India’s textile, apparel market on a road to recovery: NITI Aayog

The Indian textile and apparel market is on its road to recovery, says the Export Preparedness Index 2021 report by NITI Aayog and the Institute of Competitiveness. The textile sector has been able to maintain a trade surplus due to rising consumer demand and the government’s increased efforts to boost the sector, it adds.

Textile exports from India increased 53.86 per cent during April-November 2021. Growth was mainly driven increase in shipment of cotton fabrics, made-ups and readymade cotton garments. The government has also achieved 68 per cent of the annual target of $44 billion for textiles and apparel, including handicrafts, in 2021-22, the report adds.

The report states, India’s textile exports mainly suffer from intra- and inter-regional differences in export infrastructure; weak trade support and growth orientation across states; and lack of research and development infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports. Also, India fails to exploit the Lewis curve for low-skill manufacturing compared with more skill-intensive exports, it adds.

To exploit this opportunity, India must boost its manufacturing capacity, the report adds. A comprehensive analysis of India’s export achievements, the report can be used by states and union territories to benchmark their performance against their peers and analyse potential challenges to develop better policy mechanisms to foster export-led growth at the sub-national level.