News out of Reuters reports that the Welspun Company out of India puts plans on hold it’s ambitious acquisition plans. Reason given was dampened home textile consumer spending for items such as bedding, bed linens, pillowcases, sheets and duvets and duvet covers, towels and other similar home accessories.

This according to a senior official for Welspun October 1, 2008.

With an Enterprise Value of US$ 3000 million Welspun group is one of the fastest growing Indian conglomerates.

With presence in over 50 Countries worldwide and well over 20,000 current employees- and about 50,000 company shareholders, Welspun truly represent an amalgamation of expertise, resources, opportunities and engineering excellence. Read the full story about this bedding company here.

“The textile industry is a consumer-oriented one and we need to see how the consumer is behaving. At the moment the industry is seeing a dampening in consumer spending both in U.S. and Europe.” Welspun had said it was scouting for home textiles firms in Europe and Australia, but will now focus on boosting domestic retail and maintain sales levels in U.S. and Europe, Director Akhil Jindal told Reuters in an interview.

“We were considering it (acquisitions) nearly an year back, but you cannot buy a company today unless you know where the market is headed,” Jindal added.

However, it will now focus on retail expansion at home and add 40-50 stores to its 270 stores under Welspun Retail by March 2009, mostly in tier 2 and 3 cities, he said. There has been robust demand for products of its “Welhome” brand targeted at the budget customer and most of the expansion this year will be under the brand, Jindal said.