The high tariffs are causing setback to the Indian textile and garment exporters in the European Union (EU) and the UK.
Darshana Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles, while presenting a report in the Parliament recently, quoted that COVID-19 has severely affected India’s garment and textile sector in 2020, while duties in the important export destinations are further impacting the exports in 2021.
According to Darshana, India’s textile and garment exports in 2020 totalled US $ 29.61 billion, while shipments of Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia for that year totalled US $ 37.95 billion*, US $ 37.10 billion* and US $ 7.77 billion*, respectively.
According to the presented report, the high tariffs that Indian exporters face in important markets like the EU and UK are affecting exports, unlike Bangladesh and Cambodia that have zero tariffs in mentioned destinations.
Darshana Jardosh also said that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown imposed by various State Governments, production activities at all companies under the National Textile and Garment Group (NTC) Limited have been suspended since 25 March 2020, thus affecting all stakeholders from farmers to traders and exporter in the value chain.
During this period, the employees are regularly paid by the NTC according to their status from the cash reserve.
However, the second wave of COVID-19 once again resulted in the closure of all operations of NTC companies in April 2021 and now NTC has resumed operations at some companies in July 2021 depending on available materials.
