TPCI and World Furniture Confederation joins hands to promote furniture manufacturing clusters in India

Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) on Saturday said it has signed a pact with World Furniture Confederation to set up modern industrial clusters for manufacturing furnitures in the country, which has a negligible share in the $250-billion global commerce of these goods.

The global furniture trade is $250 billion. The European Union (EU) and China export about $100 billion of furniture. The US alone imports $72 billion worth of these goods and is the biggest importer.

So there is a big opportunity for India to scale its export and reduce import dependence, TPCI Chairman Mohit Singla said, adding the memorandum of understanding (MoU) will promote engagement with global major furniture manufacturers.

The MoU envisages a collaboration between the global body and TPCI to set up furniture industrial clusters in India by sharing best practices, he said.

"Recent study of the potential sector has revealed great demand for plug-and-play clusters as the only possible means of achieving competitiveness, which is much desired for import substitution and export prowess," Singla said.

He added that furniture is clearly a big latent opportunity for India in terms of leveraging export.

"We have ample land, most affordable skilled labour and supporting logistics and warehouse infrastructure. India enjoys zero duty on all considered products for export of furniture to the US market, which clearly underlines the big advantage to enter the US market," he said.

Presently the Indian furniture industry is largely unorganised and fragmented. Being an un-organised sector, it merely focuses on hand-made furniture.

Setting of furniture clusters will allow the organized industry to do cost-effective manufacturing at globally competitive prices.

"The cooperation will also bring foreign direct investment (FDI), boost India's furniture export and reduce import dependency," Singla said.

India's average furniture imports are estimated at over $600 million every year. More than half come from China. The other main exporters to India include Malaysia, Germany, Italy, and Singapore. China is the largest exporter of different kinds of furniture in the world.

The size of the domestic furniture industry is about $5 billion. The average annual exports are estimated at around $1.5 billion.

On furniture goods such as seats, mattress support, articles of bedding, and lamps and lighting fittings, the import duty has been increased by the government to 25 per cent from 20 per cent earlier.