Second in world ranking only to China
India has improved its ranking in global textile and apparel exports, as per the recent data released by ‘UN Comtrade’. In global textiles exports, India now stands second, beating its competitors like Italy, Germany and Bangladesh, with China still retaining its top position.
Mr. Virender Uppal, Chairman, AEPC, has expressed his happiness over this impressive growth, and stated: “Despite having slow recovery in the US and the EU, our biggest traditional markets, as well as the prevailing global slowdown, coupled with the sustained cost of inflationary inputs, we made the best possible efforts to reach here. The Government policy of diversification of market and product base has helped us, and we ventured into the newer markets, which paid huge dividends. We also leveraged our raw material strengths and followed sustained better compliance practices which attracted the buyers and international brands across the globe to source from India.”
India’s share in global textiles increased by 17.5 per cent in 2013 compared to the previous year. Currently India’s textile exports to the world are worth $40.2 billion. This growth is phenomenal as the global textile growth rate is only 4.7 per cent compared to India which has registered a growth of 23 per cent beating China and Bangladesh which have registered 11.4 per cent and 15.4 per cent respectively.
Total global textiles exports are to the tune of $772 billion with India commanding a 5.2 per cent share. This growth in exports from India is largely attributed to the growth in the apparel and clothing sector with an almost 43 per cent share.
The apparel exports ranking also improved from the eighth position in 2012 to the sixth in 2013. India’s apparel exports were worth $15.7 billion in 2013 as against $12.9 billion in 2012, registering a 21.8 per cent growth. Apparel exports from India constitute 3.7 per cent of the global readymade garment exports.
While lauding the efforts of the apparel exporters, Mr. Uppal conveyed his concern over specially fabric supply. He said: “The availability of specialty fabric is a big bottleneck for which AEPC has been aggressively demanding 5% duty scrip on imports of fabrics. This must be considered favorably by the new Government to boost India’s apparel exports. Garment exporters may be permitted to import it with 5% duty scrip on the input, so as to increase exports and optimally use our potential to the fullest extent. The rising interest rate is another issue which hampers growth for which AEPC once again has put in its request to the Government for a separate chapter for pre- and post-shipment export credit at a fixed rate of 7% interest, as was done in the past and treat readymade garment for the priority sector lending. I earnestly request the Government to accord top priority to the RMG sector.”
The increasing labour cost in China, and non-compliance of a large number of factories in Bangladesh provide India a big opportunity. A small push from the Government may help the Indian industry to get more business as overseas buyers are looking at India as a safe and reliable option for sourcing. But to capture the market left by China and Bangladesh, the industry has to be competitive in pricing, apart from meeting strict timelines and better quality delivery.