As per industry estimate India’s use of man-made fibre in fabric blends has increased to 45 per cent over the last few months from 40 per cent earlier. However, India is far below the global average of man-made fibre use of 70 per cent in blended fabrics. India is gradually catching up with the global trend of a bigger share of man-made fibres than natural fibres in textile blends. The preference of consumers is moving from cotton to man-made fibres like polyester, given the increasing demand for casual-wear and sports-wear. The decreasing acreage of cotton cultivation in the country is also contributing towards the shift.

Some spinning mills in the South Indian states including Tamil Nadu have started using manmade fibre again after a wide gap of several years. Traditionally, they were using manmade fibre but had shifted to cotton about a decade ago. They have again switched to manmade fibre as it is abundantly available and substantially cheaper than cotton.