India’s textile, apparel exports decline by 13% in 2020-21

India’s textile and apparel exports have declined by 13 per cent in 2020-2021, according to the provisional data available with the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council shows.

The exports were worth $29 billion last year as against $34 billion in 2019-2020. Exports of ready-made garments declined 20.78 per cent last financial year compared with the previous year, while exports of man-made textile items fell by 21.20 per cent.

Siddhartha Rajagopal, Executive Director, says, cotton textiles exports declined by 2.12 per cent due to COVID spread and its impact on exports last April and May. However, all textile and clothing segments, including carpet, jute, apparel, and MMF products, showed significant growth in March this year and this trend is said to have continued in April too,.

Textile and clothing exports are expected to do well at least till June since countries such as the US and U.K. are looking up and China has also started buying, he added.

The apparel industry is also anticipating a revival in global demand during the current financial year. A. Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC points out, in pril last year, apparel exports were just $127 million, while last month it was $1,294 million With the current trend, the industry can look at a 20 per cent growth in apparel exports this financial year. However, it also depends on the pandemic and its impact world over.