The Indian denim industry has been one of the fastest growing apparel fabric segments and is looking to gradually increase its share of exports from its current 35% to 65% as there is a gap of 300 million meters in India if the denim industry wants to tap its full export potential, according to experts. The sector’s current share of domestic sales is 65%.

Diagonal Consulting (India), is organizing the International Denim Conference in Ahmedabad jointly with the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) on February 19 and 20, 2016.

P R Roy, chairman of Diagonal Consulting said that the conference will see major denim fabric and apparel players as well as experts from within India and abroad deliberating over the future of denim industry, especially for India.

Denim has grown by 500 million meters from 700 million meters in 2010 to 1.2 billion in 2015. While, exports of textiles have not done well in the last few years and denim as one of the major textile product groups could push textile exports.

The Denim industry’s domestic and export ratio even though is set to change from 65:35 to 55:45. It is expected to touch 1.5 billion meters capacity by 2020.

The conference will look to bring attention to policy makers on how this product can be looked at for boosting overall textile exports from the country, said Roy.

While India has been one of the major global suppliers of denim fabrics, the country still falls behind other competing nations in terms of denim apparel such as jeans. Also, while most of the global brands outsource denim apparel work to Indian players, much of it is meant for the domestic market and not for exports.

The conference will look to deliberate on how Indian apparel scene can be improved so that Indian denim industry bags orders not just for domestic market but also in foreign markets and becomes a global hub for branded denim apparel.