‘Demand revival to facilitate 33% jump in textile exports’

Several factors favour Indian exporters: Textiles Secretary

After the Covid-19 lockdown was relaxed in Chennai and its neighbouring districts from July 6, work is going on in full swing at the Chennai-based Shivam Apparels. Following the Standard Operating Procedure prescribed by the government, this unit at Kolathur exports leather garments like jackets to clients in Europe. Photo : Bijoy Ghosh

Demand for textile and clothing from India has revived, particularly in the U.S., EU and U.K. markets, and lends confidence that the industry can achieve a 33% growth in exports this financial year, said Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Union Ministry of Textiles.

Asserting that several factors were now in favour of Indian exporters, with many tops brands looking at alternative sources to China and that India was one of the main options, Mr. Singh said that government policies, especially RoSCTL and RoDTEP, would help exporters this year. Textile and clothing exports had been almost stagnant for the last seven years at less than $40 billion, he told The Hindu on Saturday.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal had on Friday urged the industry to aim to raise textile and clothing exports to $100 billion, from $33 billion, at the earliest and called on them to lift domestic production to $250 billion.

The stakeholders should collectively look at achieving $44 billion exports in 2021-2022 for textiles and apparel, including handicrafts, Mr. Goyal said in an interaction with exporters. The different segments of the textile industry should support each other so that India was able to tap opportunities across the value chain in the global market. The industry should also explore ways to increase India’s share in the world market in technical textiles, he added.

The Production Linked Incentive scheme for textiles and Mega Investments in Textile Parks scheme were in an advanced stage of approval, he noted. Some of the States had come forward for the park scheme and industry should focus on economies of scale.

Regarding trade agreements to ease market access, the Minister said he had been interacting with different nations to expedite free trade agreements or preferential trade agreements with countries such as the U.K. and Australia.

T. Rajkumar, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, who participated in the meeting, said that for the last one year, the textiles industry was doing well across the value chain.