Can Indian Bollywood help the fashion industry of the sub-continent ?
Thinking big is the Indian way this decade, given it strong economic run . Whether the nation can succeed in high fashion as it has in
global outsourcing, manufacturing and software development will be one of the more interesting business stories to watch in the year ahead.
New York, Milan, Paris, and London — few would deny these cities are home to the most innovative fashion designers on the planet. Well, how about New Delhi and Mumbai? If the country’s ambitious fashion design community realizes its vision, the country known best for silk saris could someday be a big exporter of high-end clothing labels in the same category as Prada or Gucci. 
India’s fashion jewellery is already quite famous in the western economies, but the clothing industry has yet to see the success. That’s the dream anyway — and it’s going to be a stretch. India does have a long and venerable history as a major textile producer. The image of Mahatma Gandhi and his wooden spinning wheel is known around the world. And today the production of cotton, jute, silk, wool, and other fabrics employs about 35 million Indians and represents about one-third of the country’s exports.
It’s a highly fragmented industry, but it more than holds its own against rival Chinese textile companies. Yet when it comes to finished garments, particularly high-end ones, India has a long way to go. The nation’s clothing factories do about $5 billion a year in exports but these are largely lower-end products for big Western retailers such as the Gap and Banana Republic chains. Indian designer-wear generates only $40 million or so in sales in a global market segment worth some $35 billion.
