COTTON TEXTILE CONSUMPTION 95 exhaustively with the whole pattern of consumption of different types of cloth by the different income groups. The third section gives an analysis of the observed trends. It may be noted here that the lack of growth in output and availability of cotton textiles, as also the growth in only certain categories, is attributed mainly to the lack of demand or the existence of only certain types of demand for clothing. This emphasis is dictated by the fact that a sluggish growth in the demand for industrial products is emerging as a major contributory factor to the stagnation in industrial production since the mid-sixties.6 It is not suggested that factors on the production and supply side have been dormant or unimportant. A consideration of the complex raw material problem, raw material being the single largest component of total cost of all categories of textiles in terms of inter-fibre relationship, is quite relevant.6 The impact of the changing terms of trade between agriculture and industry on the agro-based cotton textile industry vis-a-vis the synthetic fibre-based textile industry,7 changing terms of trade within agriculture as between food and non-food crops against the latter leading to a decline in the area under cotton,8 shift within raw cotton production towards the superior long-staple varieties,9 and government intervention, direct or indirect, favouring a multi-fibre textile policy10 are all relevant considerations but outside the scope of this article. PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION Domestic availability or apparent consumption of a commodity is estimated by taking its production augmented by net imports and adjusted for stocks. In respect of cloth what is available for domestic consumption in the post-independence period is largely affected by its internal production adjusted for stocks.11 Import of cotton fabrics which had been substantial before the 1940s declined during the war and by 1950-51 had virtually ceased. On the other hand cotton textiles, in particular mill cloth, have been one of our traditional export items and India was TABLE I RATE OF GROWTH OF OUTPUT IN COTTON TEXTILE INDUSTRY, 1951-1973 Production (million metres) Compound rate of 1951 1973 change per annum (per cent) Mill sector 4 131 4 123 * Decentralized sector 1 245 3 593 4.7 Total output 5 376 7 716 1.6 SOURCE: Indian Textile Bulletin, various issues. NOTE: Output figures are three-year averages. * There was a decline of 0.2 per cent over the whole period.