History of Indian Textiles

History Since ancient times Indian Textile industry has been well known for her textile goods. During the colonial regime the traditional textile industry of India was virtually decayed. However, in the early nineteenth century the modern textile industry took birth in India when the first textile mill was established at Fort Gloster near Calcutta in 1818. Next to Agriculture India mainly is into the Textile Sector. Indian Textile Industry is one of India’s oldest industries and has a formidable presence in the national economy as it contributes to about 14% of manufacturing value-addition, accounts for around one-third of our gross export earnings and provides gainful employment to millions of people. | | |
In 1850's the cotton textile industry, however, made its real beginning in Bombay.In the year 1854 the first cotton textile mill of Bombay was established by a Parsi cotton merchant then engaged in overseas and internal trade. Indeed, the vast majority of the early mills were the handiwork of Parsi merchants engaged in yarn and cloth trade at home and Chinese and African markets. The first cotton mill established in the year 1861 was at Ahmedabad, which was eventually to emerge as a rival centre to Bombay, which later spread the textile industry largely due to the Gujarati trading class. The cotton textile industry made rapid progress in the second half of the nineteenth century and by the end of the century there were 178 cotton textile mills; but during the year 1900 the cotton textile industry was in bad state due to the great famine and a number of mills of Bombay and Ahmedabad were to be closed down for long periods. Brief Introduction | Indian Textile Industry has earned a unique place in our country. It is among one of the industries which were earliest to come into existence in India. It accounted for 14% of the total Industrial production, contributes to nearly 30% of the total exports and is the second largest employment generator after