With a few days left before the multi-fibre arrangement comes to an end on January 1, 2005, the latest trends in global textile machinery shipments show that India's share has dropped significantly in the last five years, even as rivals like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan have ramped up their shares.

The import is clear: while textile companies in other countries have been beefing up production capacities in order to meet the new post-quota challenges, Indian companies have been left behind.

In 1999, India was the largest destination for spindles, with a share of 38 per cent of shipments. By 2003, China, with a 60 per cent share, pushed India, which cornered only an 11 per cent share, to the second spot.

On the other hand, Pakistan's share increased from 1.3 per cent in 1999 to 7.25 per cent in 2003, while Bangladesh's share of shipments rose three-fold, from 1.08 per cent in 1999 to 3.12 per cent in 2003.

Some industry analysts attribute the decline in the imports of spinning machinery to the growth of the indigenous textile machinery industry.

Local manufacturers met 30 per cent of the demand in 2003, according to the International Textile Machinery Exhibition.

"The indigenous sector has been strong in the spinning machinery segment, but the weaving and processing machinery segments have been traditionally weak areas. Pakistan performed fairly well in the import of spinning machinery last year, while Bangladesh has invested heavily in knitting machinery," Ajay Vats, the chief executive officer of Reiter India, a leading textile machinery manufacturer, said.

Indeed, Bangladesh's share of total shipments of knitting machinery has shot up to 39.59 per cent in 2003, up from just 2.16 per cent in 1999. For India, the share has gone down from 7.77 per cent in 1999 to 2 per cent in 2003.

In the weaving machinery segment, China has been the biggest investor, with its share in total shipments doubling over the past five years from 35.5 per cent in 1999 to 77.21 per cent in 2003.

India's share decreased from 1.28 per cent to 1 per cent over the same period. This is being attributed to the fact that a large number of looms in the unorganised sector use second-hand looms to cut costs.

"The relative lack of investment in new machinery is a cause for concern. An overload of used machinery in the unorganised sector will cause technological drawbacks for the country," Northern India Textile Mills' Association Secretary-General KJS Ahluwalia said.

In the case of texturing machinery, too, China has been the leader, bagging 72.94 per cent of the total shipments in 2003, whereas India's share was just 9 per cent, a sharp fall from 14.64 per cent in 1999.