India’s exports of clothing and textiles, including handicrafts, increased 7% between April and October to reach USD 21.35 billion, the government announced on Thursday. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, FY 2023-24, the sector’s export shipments totaled USD 20 billion.
“The Ready-Made Garments (RMG) category with exports of USD 8,733 million has the largest share (41 per cent) in the total exports (USD 21,358 million) during the period of April-October of FY 2024-25, followed by Cotton Textiles (33 per cent, USD 7,082 million), Man-Made Textiles (15 per cent, USD 3,105 million),” according to the Textiles Ministry.
Due to a demand-supply imbalance in this industry, the category of man-made textiles, which accounted for USD 1,859 million in imports, had the greatest share (34 percent) of all imports (USD 5,425 million) during the April–October period of FY 2024–25. Growth of imports is observed majorly in Cotton Textiles mainly on account of import of long staple cotton fibre and such trends of import indicates an increase in production capacity of the country amidst rising consumption and self-reliance,
India imported USD 8.94 billion worth of textiles and clothing items in FY 2023–24, a nearly 15% decrease from FY 2022–2023’s USD 10.48 billion. In 2023, India ranked sixth globally in terms of textile and clothing exports. In FY 2023–2024, textile and apparel (T&A), including handicrafts, accounted for 8.21% of India’s total exports.
Our nation accounts for 3.9% of the world’s textile and clothing trade. With over 47% of all textile and apparel exports, the United States and the European Union are India’s top export destinations.
