23 February 2026, Mumbai

Marking its 48th foundation day, the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has reinforced its commitment to elevating India’s presence in the global textile value chain. Amidst a shifting trade landscape, the council is aligning its operations with the government’s Vision 2030, which targets a total of $100 billion in textile exports. Recent industry data indicates, the Indian apparel sector is increasingly moving toward value-added production to meet the rigorous quality demands of the North American and European markets. This institutional milestone serves as a focal point for assessing how policy interventions, such as the PLI scheme and specialized credit support, are assisting manufacturers in navigating high raw material costs and fluctuating international demand.

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Sustainable integration and digital supply chains

To maintain a competitive edge, the AEPC is prioritizing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) compliance across manufacturing clusters. This initiative addresses the growing global requirement for ‘slow fashion’ and ethical sourcing. By integrating digital tracking systems and sustainable material procurement, the council aims to reduce the carbon footprint of Indian apparel while ensuring fair compensation for the workforce. Industry experts suggest that the adoption of advanced automation and specialized training programs will be the primary driver in achieving double-digit growth. Current market projections estimate the global apparel market will continue to expand, providing a significant window for Indian exporters to capture a larger share of the premium segment through certified sustainable practices.

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Incorporated in 1978, the AEPC is the official body for Indian apparel exporters, providing a vital link between the Ministry of Textiles and the industry. It manages export promotion, market intelligence, and trade delegations across key hubs like the US and EU. The council is currently focusing on exploring non-traditional markets in Latin America and Australia to diversify risk and enhance revenue. Financial outlook remains optimistic as the council facilitates enhanced liquidity for MSMEs, ensuring the sector achieves sustained export parity and technological modernization in the coming fiscal cycle.

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For much of the past decade, India's textile and apparel narrative has revolved around exports. Every industry target has largely been evaluated through the prism of overseas shipments, free trade agreements and access to global markets. Yet, as geopolitical uncertainty, supply-chain disruptions and fluctuating consumer demand continue to redefine international trade in 2026, an alternative strategy is steadily gaining traction: allowing India's domestic market to become the principal engine of industry expansion.

The proposition is difficult to ignore. According to the Ministry of Textiles' Annual Report 2025-26, India's textile and apparel ecosystem has already expanded into a $190 billion industry. More importantly, the domestic market alone now accounts for nearly $170 billion (Rs 16.66 lakh crore), having more than doubled over the past decade. These numbers suggest that India's largest opportunity may no longer lie outside its borders, but within them.

If fully leveraged, analysts believe the domestic market could substantially reduce the industry's dependence on volatile export cycles while making the government's long-term aspiration of building a $350 billion textile economy considerably more achievable.

Changing the growth equation

The government's original roadmap envisaged a $350 billion textile sector comprising a $250 billion domestic market and $100 billion in exports by 2030. While ambitious, the export target requires overseas shipments to rise from roughly $38.5 billion today to $100 billion within a few years, translating into a compound annual growth rate exceeding 21 per cent. Economists argue that such increases would be exceptionally difficult in the current global environment, where demand remains vulnerable to inflation, inventory corrections and recurring logistics disruptions.

By allowing the domestic market to shoulder a greater share of industry growth, export expectations become significantly more realistic. Instead of chasing unprecedented international expansion, exports would need to grow at a sustainable single-digit pace while continuing to complement domestic demand.

Why the domestic market looks more resilient

Export-led growth inevitably exposes manufacturers to variables beyond their control. Freight disruptions in West Asia, changing tariff structures, carbon-border regulations and slowing consumer spending across North America and Europe continue to create uncertainty for exporters. Domestic consumption, however, follows a different pattern. India's expanding middle class, rising disposable incomes, rapid urbanisation and deeper digital penetration are generating structural demand that is relatively insulated from international economic cycles. Unlike export markets that fluctuate with Western retail inventories, domestic purchasing is increasingly being driven by lifestyle upgrades, organised retail expansion and higher discretionary spending. For manufacturers, this creates a far more predictable demand environment.

Three factors driving internal consumption

The opportunity extends well beyond conventional apparel. One of the biggest shifts is unfolding within technical textiles. Supported by the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM), the segment has grown from a $6 billion industry to nearly $25 billion. Demand is being generated through government-led infrastructure and public procurement programmes, including geotextiles for highways, agro-textiles for agriculture and medical textiles for healthcare.

Unlike fashion retail, these applications create stable institutional demand that remains relatively immune to seasonal consumer cycles. Digital commerce is another major catalyst. Online fashion retail has crossed $14.8 billion and now accounts for roughly 22 per cent of India's apparel sales. Improved digital payment infrastructure has increased organised retail penetration across Tier-II and Tier-III cities, encouraging consumers to shift from unbranded fabrics towards branded garments and value-added apparel.

Simultaneously, changing consumption patterns are creating new opportunities beyond clothing. Urban households are allocating a larger share of monthly expenditure towards home furnishings, reflecting rising aspirations and increasing premiumisation across lifestyle categories.

A third growth driver is the rapid increase of organised retail. Global fashion retailers alongside domestic conglomerates continue investing aggressively across India, encouraged by the country's growing middle-income population. Industry estimates suggest nearly 60 million additional middle-class households could emerge by 2030, creating sustained demand for branded apparel and home textiles.

Manufacturing must catch up

While domestic demand appears robust, supply-side constraints remain a significant concern.  One of the biggest mismatches lies in fibre composition.

Global fashion consumption is steadily shifting towards performance wear, activewear and blended fabrics. However, India's manufacturing sector continues to remain heavily concentrated around natural fibres, particularly cotton. Although approximately 30 manufacturing units have become operational under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for MMFs, experts believe a much broader participation from mid-sized manufacturers will be necessary if domestic demand is to be fully met.

Clusters such as Surat and Coimbatore will need to increase investments in synthetic processing capacity to narrow the competitiveness gap with regional manufacturing hubs.

Scaling beyond fragmentation

The domestic supply chain also remains highly fragmented. India's textile sector is dominated by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which provide flexibility but often struggle with inconsistent quality standards, limited automation and inadequate production scale. As organised retailers and e-commerce platforms demand shorter production cycles and higher consistency, fragmentation risks becoming a competitive disadvantage.

The government's PM MITRA Mega Textile Parks seek to address this weakness by integrating spinning, weaving, processing and garment manufacturing within large industrial clusters. Such integrated facilities are expected to reduce logistics costs by as much as 15-20 per cent, improve production efficiency and create globally competitive manufacturing ecosystems capable of servicing both domestic and export markets.

More balanced growth model

The domestic-first approach does not advocate abandoning exports. Instead, it proposes rebalancing the industry's growth architecture. A stronger domestic market provides manufacturers with stable capacity utilisation, allowing exports to evolve into higher-margin opportunities rather than acting as the industry's primary growth engine.

Many industry analysts therefore believe India's $350 billion textile ambition remains achievable but on a more realistic timeline extending towards 2031-33 rather than the original target year. If domestic demand continues expanding at an annual rate of around 11-12 per cent, supported by technical textiles, organised retail, digital commerce and rising middle-class consumption, India could substantially reduce its dependence on volatile international markets.

The country's textile transformation may ultimately be defined not by how much it exports, but by how effectively it unlocks the purchasing power of its own consumers. Building a resilient domestic ecosystem first could provide the scale, investment confidence and manufacturing strength required for India to compete more sustainably on the global stage.

The Ministry of Textiles held the fourth meeting of its ESG Task Force in New Delhi to co-create a shared vision for a sustainable, circular, and resource-efficient Indian textile and apparel industry.

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Textile Secretary Neelam Shami Rao presided over the session, which brought together officials from key ministries, industry associations, brands, multilateral agencies, and sector experts.

Rao emphasised that sustainability is already a lived reality in textile hubs like Tiruppur, Surat, and Panipat, where water recycling, renewable energy, and waste management initiatives are making tangible progress.

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She urged stakeholders to scale such practices nationwide, noting that sustainability is no longer optional but essential to the sector’s future.

Additional Secretary Rohit Kansal echoed this sentiment, highlighting India’s cultural alignment with sustainable practices. He underlined the importance of turning sustainability into a competitive advantage globally, beyond mere regulatory compliance. He also reiterated the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a global leader in ‘Fashion for Environment and Empowerment.’

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The meeting included a focused consultation on the draft Roadmap 2047 for a green textile future. Discussions explored building awareness across the value chain, R&D, innovation, harmonised standards, simplified compliance, and mechanisms for green finance and responsible consumption.

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The Ministry invited comments from stakeholders to refine the roadmap, and participants affirmed their commitment to collaboratively shaping a future-ready framework. Industry leaders lauded the Ministry’s inclusive, swift, and pragmatic approach in addressing environmental and social governance in textiles.

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India’s athleisure industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments within the apparel sector, growing into a $13.1 billion and projected to touch nearly $21 billion by 2033. Rising fitness awareness, growing participation in recreational sports, and the increasing acceptance of activewear as everyday fashion have pushed up demand across metros and smaller cities alike.

Yet beneath the strong consumer momentum lies a challenge that threatens the sector’s next phase of growth. While domestic brands have become adept at digital marketing, influencer-led campaigns and value pricing, many continue to rely on largely similar synthetic fabric inputs. As a result, product differentiation has narrowed to design, fit and branding rather than material innovation.

Experts argue that this dependence on commodity-grade polyester-spandex blends is creating a manufacturing bottleneck at a time when consumers are seeking performance-driven apparel with advanced functionality.

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Missing layer of textile innovation

Globally, leading athletic brands have built their competitive advantage through proprietary fabric technologies. Their products are designed around performance attributes such as moisture management, temperature regulation, stretch recovery and durability. In contrast, many Indian athleisure labels source from a relatively concentrated domestic pool of synthetic fabrics, limiting opportunities to create distinct technical propositions.

The gap becomes particularly visible when comparing India’s sourcing pattern with established textile innovation hubs across East Asia. Japan remains a leader in advanced yarn engineering, producing specialized materials such as bi-component nylon structures that deliver stretch and resilience without excessive elastane usage. South Korea dominates several categories of elastane and stretch-fibre innovation, while China has built deeply integrated textile clusters that enable brands to access high-performance fabrics with lower minimum order quantities and faster development cycles. These innovations have allowed international brands to commercialize fabric technologies as core intellectual property, transforming materials into long-term brand assets rather than mere inputs.

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Commodity fibres vs performance materials

India’s man-made fibre sector remains one of the largest globally and plays an important role in the country’s textile exports. However, production continues to be concentrated in commodity categories.

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As per estimates polyester and viscose account for the overwhelming majority of India’s synthetic fibre output. Much of this production is geared toward fast fashion, household textiles and mass-market apparel rather than specialized technical textiles. This concentration creates a mismatch between growing consumer expectations and available domestic manufacturing capabilities.

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Policy and supply chain constraints

Another challenge is the regulatory environment around synthetic textile imports. Measures designed to protect domestic manufacturers, including quality-control requirements and import restrictions on certain synthetic inputs, have supported local industry development. However, many advanced performance materials remain unavailable within India. As a result, brands seeking specialized yarns or technical fabrics often deal with higher sourcing costs, longer procurement cycles and limited supplier options.

At the same time, international mills that possess advanced technical capabilities frequently operate with order quantities that exceed the purchasing power of emerging Indian brands. This creates a difficult middle ground: domestic suppliers offer flexibility but limited technical sophistication, while overseas suppliers provide innovation but demand scale.

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Consumer expectations are evolving

The challenge is becoming more urgent with shifting consumer preferences. Across Asia-Pacific markets, demand for performance-oriented sportswear continues to grow. Indian online retail trends point to strong growth in lifestyle sportswear purchases, particularly in Tier-II and III cities where fitness culture and organized sports participation are expanding rapidly.

More and more consumers are evaluating products based on features such as anti-odor treatment, moisture management, temperature regulation and enhanced stretch performance. In this situation, brands that rely exclusively on generic synthetic fabrics risk entering a cycle of margin pressure and discount-led competition.

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The contrast highlights why many global brands continue with pricing premiums despite operating in highly competitive categories.

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Focus on fabric-first strategies

Recognizing these limitations, a growing number of Indian athleisure companies are beginning to invest in fabric-led differentiation. Rather than competing solely through marketing budgets and discounts, emerging brands are experimenting with proprietary material platforms and customized textile development. The objective is to create unique product identities that are harder for competitors to replicate.

Sawsee Athleisure, for example, has pursued a fabric-centric strategy by introducing trademarked material platforms designed specifically for women’s performance apparel. The approach reflects a broader industry shift toward developing proprietary performance characteristics rather than relying on off-the-shelf synthetic blends.

Larger manufacturers are also taking institutional steps to address the capability gap. Shahi Exports’ partnership with Taiwan-based Little King Global to establish a performance-fabric processing facility in Karnataka highlights how domestic players are seeking to bring advanced synthetic processing expertise closer to local manufacturing operations. Such collaborations could become important as India attempts to build a more sophisticated technical textile ecosystem.

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The fact is that the opportunity remains substantial. India’s man-made fibre sector contributes significantly to textile exports and has been identified as a strategic growth area under the government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) programme for technical textiles and MMF products. The sector aims to increase exports by 2030, but achieving that ambition will require looking beyond commodity fibre production toward higher-value performance materials.

For the athleisure industry, the next stage of growth may depend less on celebrity endorsements and digital marketing campaigns and more on investments in polymer science, yarn engineering and textile innovation. As consumer expectations continue to evolve, the brands that control fabric technology rather than merely garments could be best positioned to capture the premium end of the market. The challenge is no longer demand. It is whether India can build the manufacturing capabilities required to meet it.

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04 September 2024, Mumbai

Arvind Ltd's premium label, Primanté Luxury Fabrics has released its debut campaign featuring Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Prince of Udaipur, as its brand ambassador.

Titled ‘Own Your Legacy, Own The Moment,’ the campaign marks the first collaboration between Primanté and the Royalty of Mewar. It showcases the brand's premium suiting and shirting fabrics.

The campaign celebrates the timeless elegance and sophistication of Primante fabrics, according to a press release by Arvind Ltd. The brand’s collaboration with the Prince underscores its commitment to quality, innovation, and craftsmanship, while also highlighting its connection to India's rich heritage and royal legacy, it adds.

Featuring Singh Mewar in various settings, including his family's palace and beside a vintage automobile, the campaign emphasises on the regal traditions associated with Primanté's luxury fabrics. The brand has released its latest collection at the various outlets of The Arvind Store and other numerous multi-brand stores across India.

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India’s textile sector is attempting something far more consequential than an export growth. It is trying to convert cultural capital into economic capital. The Ministry of Textiles’ ‘Vision 2030’, which targets $100 billion in exports, is often framed as a scale ambition. In reality, it is a redesign of how Indian textiles are positioned in global trade. For decades, India’s handlooms and handicrafts were treated as repositories of cultural identity rather than commercial assets. The country’s more than 180 Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged products, from Banarasi silk to Kanchipuram weaves, carried prestige but lacked the institutional machinery to function as globally scalable brands. That is now changing.

The shift underway is to treat these products not merely as artisanal outputs but as premium intellectual property. In a global fashion economy increasingly moving toward traceability, provenance and slow luxury, this could prove timely. What France did with Champagne and Italy with Parma ham, India is seeking to do with heritage textiles, turn origin into pricing power. That ambition is reflected in the export architecture itself.

The table reveals an important policy insight. While readymade garments remain the volume engine, handloom and handicrafts are posting the strongest growth, albeit from a smaller base. That matters because this segment is less about scale and more about value density. A sari or artisanal textile can carry margins and storytelling premiums unavailable to commodity exports. The target of nearly tripling handloom and handicraft exports by 2030 signals that policymakers increasingly view craft as an export multiplier rather than a niche social sector.

Heritage needs industrial discipline

Yet, cultural distinctiveness alone does not build export competitiveness. The longstanding problem has been reliability. Global buyers have often admired Indian craft while hesitating to source at scale because of fragmented production, inconsistent quality and weak delivery assurance. This is where policy has moved beyond preservation and into industrial engineering.

PM MITRA parks represent a notable break from the traditional cluster-development approach. Instead of treating artisan communities as isolated rural ecosystems, the model seeks to integrate them into industrial-grade infrastructure, common processing facilities, zero-liquid discharge dyeing, warehousing and logistics. The recent allocation of 190 acres to 23 investors at the Tamil Nadu PM MITRA park, backed by Rs 2,192 crore in commitments, signals this shift from subsidy-led support to investment-led ecosystem building.

Equally significant is the integration of the Samarth skilling programme. Training over 1.1 lakh beneficiaries is not merely about employment generation; it addresses a core export issue: defect-free repeatability. For global luxury buyers, craftsmanship is valued only when consistency accompanies artistry. That is the missing business layer India has long lacked.

The Banarasi template

The pilot involving 500 Banarasi weavers offers perhaps the clearest proof of concept. A 12 per cent rejection rate was brought down to 2 per cent through centralized finishing and digital inventory systems, while unit realization rose 22 per cent. The economics here are more significant than the anecdote. It shows how heritage does not lose authenticity when supported by technology; it gains commercial viability. This is an important lesson because debates around artisanal modernization often fall into a false binary of tradition versus industrialization. The Banarasi example suggests the future lies in combining both. For luxury buyers in Europe or Japan, the attraction is not merely handcrafted provenance, but dependable handcrafted provenance.

Digital commerce is rewiring craft economics

Another transformation is occurring outside factories, in distribution. Historically, intermediaries captured much of the value in handloom commerce, leaving weavers with limited pricing power. Social commerce and direct-to-consumer channels are beginning to alter that equation. If digital platforms are indeed increasing artisan margins by 15-20 per cent, as estimates suggest, this may prove as disruptive as any infrastructure reform.

What makes this shift particularly significant is that it professionalises fragmented clusters without requiring them to become vertically integrated corporations. Producer-led private agencies, which can handle export documentation, audits and marketing, may offer a more scalable model than legacy cooperatives. In effect, technology is doing for artisanal distribution what PM MITRA aims to do for production, formalising an informal economy.

Trade policy will decide the outcome

Yet domestic reforms alone will not secure the $100 billion ambition. External competitiveness remains constrained by tariff asymmetry. Indian exporters continue to face a 9.6 per cent duty disadvantage against rivals such as Bangladesh and Vietnam in key markets. Unless on going FTA negotiations with the UK and EU meaningfully reduce that burden, improvements in productivity may not fully translate into export gains.

This is where the Ministry’s ‘5F’ framework: Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign, becomes more than a slogan. Its success depends on whether all five links function together. India has historically excelled at fibre and increasingly at fashion. The challenge now is whether foreign can be unlocked through trade diplomacy at the same pace as domestic reforms.

From cultural preservation to capital formation

The larger significance of this strategy goes beyond exports. If GI-tagged textiles can evolve into premium global brands, they create a new asset class rooted not in industrial patents but in cultural provenance. That has implications for rural incomes, luxury retail positioning and India’s broader soft-power economy. The opportunity is substantial. Global consumers are moving toward authenticity, traceability and lower-impact fashion. India possesses a natural advantage in all three. But advantages do not monetise themselves.

The question is no longer whether India’s textile heritage has value. It clearly does. The question is whether the country can build enough businesses around that heritage to turn cultural memory into sustained export power. That is the real test of the $100 billion roadmap.

The Indian government has increased the Budget allocation for textile sector schemes by 28 per cent to Rs 4,417.03 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a significant increase in funding for cotton procurement, the National Technical Textile Mission, the Integrated Scheme for Skill Development, and several other schemes. The proposed Budget includes Rs 4,373 crore for revenue expenditure and Rs 43.65 crore for capital expenditure, totalling Rs 4,417.03 crore.

Focus on export promotion

To give a much-needed push to exports in the leather and textile sectors, the Finance Minister announced a reduction in the basic customs duty (BCD) on real down filling material. This move is expected to lower input costs for manufacturers, making Indian products more price-competitive in the global market.

Additionally, the government has expanded the list of exempted goods for the manufacture of leather and textile garments, footwear, and other leather articles. This is seen as a strategic step to encourage value-added exports and reduce the export burden on these sectors.

A simplification and rationalization of the export duty structure on raw hides, skins, and leather were also announced. Industry experts believe this will promote value-added exports and discourage the raw material outflow from the country. Under the Central scheme, the Budget announced Rs 600 crore for the procurement of cotton by Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) under price support scheme.

Reacting to the budget Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) says, “This Budget is extremely pragmatic and innovative in some of the bold decisions and directions it has taken to encourage employment directly. The steps include an internship scheme, the decision to reimburse one month's wages for new employees, and subsidies for employees earning over a lakh of rupees. These are excellent steps being taken. However, there are many open-ended areas at this point, and we await the details before making specific suggestions.”

Skill development and employment generation

Recognizing the crucial role of skilled manpower in the growth of the textile and leather sectors, the government has introduced a new centrally sponsored scheme to train 20 lakh youth over the next five years. This initiative, in collaboration with state governments and industry, aims to bridge the skill gap and create ample employment opportunities.

Furthermore, the upgrade of 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) with a focus on industry-relevant courses is expected to enhance the employability of young people. The Budget has proposed to allocate Rs 635 for Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) for the current fiscal. And doubled budget allocation to Rs 375 crore for National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) from Rs 170 crore of last fiscal (revised budget). The FM also proposed to increase funding for PM MITRA to Rs 300 crore from Rs 52.30 crore of last fiscal.

Sudhir Sekhri, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council has welcomed the Union Budget and said, “The garment industry hails the acceptance of the demand of AEPC by expanding the list of trims and embellishment under IGCR, which will help the RMG industry thrust exports.”

Support for MSMEs
The Budget has accorded special attention to the MSME sector, particularly labor-intensive manufacturing. The government has introduced a Credit Guarantee Scheme to facilitate term loans for MSMEs without the need for collateral or third-party guarantees. This is expected to improve access to finance for small businesses and boost investment in machinery and equipment.

To streamline the credit assessment process for MSMEs, public sector banks will be building in-house capabilities and developing a new credit assessment model based on digital footprints. This move is aimed at expanding credit access to MSMEs, including those without formal accounting systems.

A new mechanism has also been announced to provide continued bank credit to MSMEs during stress periods. This will help prevent MSMEs from slipping into the non-performing asset (NPA) category due to temporary financial difficulties.

To facilitate exports by MSMEs and traditional artisans, the government will set up E-Commerce Export Hubs in a public-private partnership model. These hubs will provide a platform for MSMEs to showcase their products globally and overcome trade-related challenges.

Rakesh Mehra, Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) sees the budget as a forward-thinking one that addresses several key issues for the overall growth of the Indian economy. However, the stagnation in the textile and apparel industry needed some bold measures for capacity building, modernisation and cost competitiveness. “MSME accounts for about 80 per cent of the Indian textile industry. The credit assurance schemes announced today will provide the much-needed impetus to the growth of large number of textile and garment MSMEs and enable them to expand their operations and innovate.” The increased focus of government towards skilling and the announcement of the Employment Linked Incentive scheme coupled with the decision of easing the FDI norms will facilitate new investments in the textile industry. Moreover, the financial support for clean energy transition, energy initiatives, and energy audits underscores the government's commitment to sustainable development.

Infrastructure development

The Budget emphasizes infrastructure development to support industrial growth. The government will facilitate the development of investment-ready "plug and play" industrial parks in 100 cities, in partnership with states and the private sector. This is expected to attract investments and create jobs.

Additionally, the development of rental housing for industrial workers in a public-private partnership mode will address the housing needs of the workforce in industrial areas.
FDI and investment facilitation

The government has committed to simplifying rules and regulations for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and overseas investments to attract more foreign capital and promote the use of the Indian rupee for international transactions.

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI), says “The government has tried to strike a balance between populist and policy measures. Initiatives such as monetary support for farmers, higher exemption limits in personal income tax, and increased standard deductions will provide higher disposable income, leading to increased spending. We believe this will stimulate consumption growth, thereby boosting the overall economy.” Rai says the emphasis on MSMEs and startups, including enabling more lending and abolishing angel tax, is a positive step towards realizing their potential. Tax simplification and compliance, which are crucial needs of the hour, have also been addressed.

The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) chairman S K Sundararaman has welcomed the announcement of reducing the BCD on Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) used for the manufacture of spandex yarn from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent to address the duty inversion, enhancing the global competitiveness of textile goods manufacturers using such yarn. He has said that use of spandex yarn has been increasing exponentially and hoped that the domestic manufacturers of spandex yarn would pass on the benefit to the downstream sectors. He welcomed the allocations granted by the Finance Ministry for exports i.e., RoDTEP and RoSCTL with an increase of 5.8 per cent and 10 per cent for the year 2024-24 as compared to 2023-24, a much-needed boost when the textile exports are on the downward trend due to various external factors.