The global apparel sourcing map is being redrawn. India’s place on it is more complicated, and more promising, than it appears. Across the five categories tracked in this analysis, India’s apparel exports grew 3% yearon-year in 2025, from US $9.44 billion to US $9.72 billion. Bangladesh grew far faster at 10.1%, reaching US $31.92 billion, and Vietnam outpaced everyone with 17.8% growth to US $18.89 billion. China’s exports in the same categories actually contracted 3.1%, falling from US $60.31 billion to US $58.43 billion, continuing its retreat from the dominant position it once held, though its base remains multiples larger than all three competitors combined.
On the surface, that places India well behind two of its closest rivals. But a category-by-category look at the data tells a more layered story. In several segments, India is not just holding its ground against Bangladesh, Vietnam and China. It is outgrowing all three.
Where India Is Winning
In trousers, the category that matters most given its sheer global volume, India’s cotton trouser exports grew 14% year-on-year in 2025, reaching US $1.15 billion. That outpaces Bangladesh’s 9% growth and trails only Vietnam’s 30% expansion in the same category. China’s cotton trouser exports, by contrast, fell 3% in the same period. In suits and ensembles, a higher-value category, India’s cotton segment grew 19% year-on-year, comfortably ahead of Bangladesh’s 13% and China’s 7%, and behind only Vietnam’s 12% on a much smaller base. T-shirts, the largest category by export value for nearly every major apparel exporter, show a similar pattern of resilience. India’s cotton T-shirt exports grew 6% to US $1.83 billion in 2025. Bangladesh grew faster at 12%, reaching a far larger US $8.08 billion, and Vietnam grew fastest of all at 20% to reach US $1.97 billion, edging ahead of India in absolute value. China’s cotton T-shirt exports fell 17%, continuing its broader retreat from lowcomplexity basics. India held its position firmly even as China vacated meaningful share, a sign that its cotton T-shirt base remains structurally sound even if it has not yet captured the full upside of China’s exit.
India’s Top Export Markets
A Quieter Story in Destination Markets
While the category data shows India’s competitive position fragmenting against its rivals, India’s destination market data tells a steadier, more encouraging story. Exports to the US, India’s largest market, grew 0.6% in 2025, from US $5.18 billion to US $5.21 billion, a near-flat performance that reflects the tariff uncertainty that has shaped India-US trade through the year. But growth elsewhere was considerably stronger. Exports to the UAE rose 10.9% to US $1.36 billion, Saudi Arabia grew 11.2% to US $406 million, and Italy grew 10.6% to US $397 million. The standout was Poland, up 23.1% to US $367 million, a market that has been benefiting from Europe’s broader nearshoring push as retailers favour sourcing closer to home.
The UK grew a healthy 5% to US $1.48 billion, a number that should accelerate further as the recently signed UK-India trade agreement takes fuller effect, with apparel import duties of 8 to 10% eliminated under the deal. Germany, Spain and France each grew in the 6 to 8% range, suggesting India is steadily building share across the EU even as its single largest market stays essentially static. For an export base that has historically leaned heavily on the US, that diversification across the Middle East and Europe is a genuine structural positive, not just a hedge.
Where the Story Gets More Difficult
The destination market gains, however, mask a category-level vulnerability that the data makes hard to ignore. Dresses expose a weakness India has not adequately addressed. India’s cotton dress exports grew a modest 5% to US $1.03 billion, but its MMF (man-made fibre) dress exports declined 7% to US $829 million, a category where global demand is shifting toward synthetic fabrics for performance and versatility. Bangladesh’s total dress exports fell 6%, but Vietnam’s grew 14% and China, despite an 11% contraction to US $7.74 billion, remains the dominant dress exporter at roughly 3.6 times India’s total. Shirts present a starker gap. India’s cotton shirt exports contracted 0.4% in 2025, while its MMF shirt exports fell a sharper 14%. Bangladesh grew both segments, up 7% in cotton and 15% in MMF. Vietnam posted the strongest growth of any major exporter in this category, up nearly 40% in cotton shirts and 34% in MMF shirts.
The Structural Problem
The pattern across these categories points to a consistent gap. India performs competitively, sometimes bestin-class, in cotton-led categories where its vertically integrated cotton ecosystem gives it a genuine cost and quality advantage. It performs considerably worse in MMF categories, precisely the segment of global apparel demand that is growing fastest. Vietnam’s MMF dress exports growing 19% while India’s fell 7% in the same category reflects years of underinvestment in synthetic fibre capacity relative to competitors who built their export strategies around it.
Recognising that future export growth will increasingly depend on MMF and performance textiles, Indian manufacturers across the value chain are investing in synthetic fabric processing, product development capabilities, specialised machinery and technical expertise. The macro environment, for the first time in several years, is also tilting in India’s favour. Recent developments around US tariff policy have left Bangladesh and Vietnam navigating steeper duty structures than India, while India’s newly signed trade agreements with the UK and the EU are beginning to translate into real, measurable gains in those markets. India’s apparel ecosystem also benefits from a level of vertical integration that few other major exporters can match, giving it a genuine advantage in the categories where it already leads.
Cotton vs MMF: Comparing India with Its Rivals
(Value in USD)
