Japanese textile companies, including global apparel retailer Uniqlo, are expected to increase sourcing of textile inputs from India and step up investments in the country to manufacture and export textile products to global markets, according to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
“My meetings with some of the largest importers and marketing companies of textiles give me the confidence that we will see a larger presence in India, both as investment to expand their business in India and to source from India for Japan and for the roughly 4,000 stores across the world which one company has with 4 trillion yen turnover, Uniqlo,” Goyal said.
The development comes as India seeks to expand its textile and apparel exports to Japan, where its presence remains limited. According to AEPC, Japan’s total garment imports are worth around US $23 billion, while India accounts for only about 1% of the market.
Japan is the world’s fourth-largest garment importer, after the US, Germany and France.
“We have also had discussions on the textile sector also. We earlier had an experience that the textile industry was not able to crack the Japanese requirements. Sizes are different; they are so used to the US and Europe. Japanese materials, sizes and styles are different,” he added.
According to Goyal, the Indian apparel industry is now showing greater interest in understanding the Japanese market. Two delegations from the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) have already started exploring Japanese requirements, he added.
