Owing to the COVID-19 crisis, India has rapidly emerged as the second largest medical textile exporter, says Sakthivel, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), at a webinar. A part of technical textiles, medical textiles is also known as healthcare textiles. As reports state, the global medical textile market valued at $16,775.52 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $23,762.66 million by 2025.

Sakthivel further said due to Coronavirus, multinational companies are keen to divert their investments from China to India. This will open new dimensions for India and the country will get multi-million-dollar business from Europe, Australia and America. Greg Ruggles, President, CEO for Multiple Product Companies agrees that due to the differences between the US and China, apparel companies are finding options to move from China to other countries.

According to him, India has the ability to manufacture different types of fabrics. The online business has given an international platform for everyone from small retailers to apparel manufacturers. Roopak Vasishtha, CEO & DG, Apparel Made Ups & Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC) points out so far the council has skilled and employed 12 lakh persons in apparel industry across India and the work is still going on in this direction.

The council is trying to identify the migrant workforces that have gone back to their native places and is looking to skill and certify them with the Government’s skill certification scheme.