India’s textile and apparel exports to the United States recorded a steep decline in November 2025, underscoring growing stress in the country’s largest export market. Data analysed by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) from the US Office of Textiles and Apparel shows that US imports from India fell 31.4% year on year during the month.
The contraction comes amid divergent trends among competing sourcing destinations. US textile and apparel imports from Vietnam increased 12.2% in November 2025 compared with the same period last year, reflecting continued buyer preference for markets offering stable trade access and predictable cost structures. Imports from China declined sharply by 48.5%, while Bangladesh posted a 14.5% fall, pointing to broader volatility across key Asian sourcing hubs.
CITI said India’s weak performance reflected sustained pressure from elevated US tariffs, margin compression and increasingly cautious buyer behaviour. The United States accounts for nearly 28% of India’s total textile and apparel export revenues, making the slowdown a significant concern for manufacturers as well as employment across the value chain.
Month-wise data indicates that India’s exports to the US fell to around US $ 540 million in November 2025, compared with approximately US $ 790 million in the same month a year earlier. Industry observers have cautioned that a prolonged downturn could weigh on capacity utilisation and dampen investment sentiment, particularly among mid-sized exporters.
CITI emphasised that diversifying export markets, accelerating market access through new trade agreements and sharpening the focus on value-added products would be critical to stabilising export momentum in 2026.
