Positive vibes for Indian apparel exports

Amidst the ongoing global uncertainty, there are some positive vibes for Indian apparel exports.

Apparel exports for the month of November 2022 have shown a positive growth of 11.7 per cent compared to November 2021 (accordingly the converted value is tuned to US $ 1198.0 million against US $ 1072.9 of November 2021). Similarly, cumulative apparel exports for the period of April-November 2022-23 is US $ 10359.4 million, showing a growth of 7.2 per cent over 2021-22.

As per the Ministry of Commerce’s data for the month of November 2022, apparel exports have reversed the negative growth existing compared to the corresponding months of previous year since September 2022 onwards and shown positive growth of 22.71 per cent compared to November 2021.

Narendra Goenka, Chairman AEPC said, “RMG exports from India have been witnessing a rough patch in past few months since most of the traditional markets of Indian RMG including UK, EU and the US have been witnessing recession and global headwinds, leading to shrinking demand in these countries on one hand and buyers asking for 15 per cent discount on the other. In addition, inflation and rising raw material and freight cost aggravated by the Russia- Ukraine war are further adding to the burden.  However, after a few months of slip, RMG exports have again turned positive signalling the resilience of the industry to adjust to the prevailing challenges.”

Tirupur knitwear exports clocked negative growth in the months of August, September and October 2022 at -14.6 per cent, -24.4 per cent and -34.1 per cent respectively compared to the corresponding months of 2021, but it turned positive in the month of November 2022 and recorded 10.6 per cent growth compared to November 2021.

K.M. Subramanian, President of Tirupur Exporters’ Association is also positive about the future with factors like Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) with Australia coming into effect from 29th December 2022 and the envisaged Agreement with UK happening in another two months.

As per him, the UK and Australia buyers are interested to place orders with us because of China Plus one policy of the respective countries and he is hopeful that the placement of orders will gradually increase in the coming days for the next season.

The total set target of apparel exports for 2022-23 is US $ 17.6 billion against which India has been able to achieve more than US $ 10 billion during April – November 2022.

In spite of all the constraints, AEPC believes that India shall achieve the level of exports of last year.