The Indian powerloom industry employs 6.1 million people and utilizes 2.43 million powerlooms. Powerlooms account for almost 60% of fabrics produced and works almost ten times faster than the handloom. In 2015, the annual fabric produced was about 37.5 billion square meters, a 2.1% increase from the previous year. India exports $13.1 billion worth of goods to countries like the United States, France, Germany, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, U.A.E. and Italy.
Most of the powerlooms are located in semi urban and rural areas. Maharashtra has the largest amount of powerlooms with approximately 800,000 worth of powerlooms and Tamil Nadu comes in second with about 5 lakhs worth of powerlooms. Gujarat comes in third place with about 400,000 powerlooms. The cities within these states in which powerlooms are concentrated are Erode, Salem, Solapur, Bhiwandi, and Madurai. The powerloom industry produces a large variety of fabrics including grey and printed fabrics, dyed fabrics, cotton fabrics, mixes of cotton, and synthetic fibers.
Last updated: August 6th, 2016
