Hairline Fix: India wants to snip China’s growth

New Delhi: China, the world’s largest manufacturer of wigs and hair extensions, is allegedly relying more on conflict-hit Myanmar as a base for processing human hair sourced largely from India, according to people aware of the matter. Some of these processing units in Myanmar are allegedly using child labour, they told ET.

The growing trade has alarmed Indian wig and hair extension exporters, who are seeking a ban on the Myanmar route.

India exported around $940 million worth of human hair in FY26. About 98% of the exported volume of unprocessed hair, worth about $282 million, went to Myanmar, marking a 43% jump over the previous year.

Two Indian exporters told ET that the actual trade is far larger, with smuggled consignments running into multiples of the official volume, crossing the porous border through barter arrangements.

“China does not want us to acquire the latest technology and emerge as a serious wig-manufacturing hub. Otherwise, why would it deny visas to some 100 Indian hair exporters who wanted to attend the China Hair Expo in Guangzhou from August 1 to 3?” said a Chennai-based exporter, requesting not to be named. “We waited until the last date, only to be told that our visas had been rejected. Some exporters even paid $6,000 each for stall booking.”

Industry Seeks Domestic Push

According to an analysis by the trade think tank GTRI, almost the entire Indian trade in human hair comprised raw and semi-processed hair, while finished products such as human-hair wigs, false beards, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc., were worth only $1.35 million.

The numbers underline a stark imbalance: in a global human-hair extension and wig industry worth $5.2 billion, India supplies the raw material, while China captures much of the value. The Chinese city of Xuchang, in Henan province, is widely regarded as the wig capital of the world. The Human Hair & Hair products Manufacturers & Exporters Association of India (HHHPMEAI), which represents 85 of the country’s leading human-hair exporters, has repeatedly urged the government to ban raw-hair exports.

The association argues that restricting such exports would secure raw material for Indian processors, while creating more than a million jobs in wig-making and other segments. In a letter to home minister Amit Shah last year, HHHPMEAI president Benjamin Cherian made another case: even the basic processing of hair could generate substantial employment for women in Naxalite-affected villages across Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.