India's textile exports grew 7% during Apr-Oct: Govt

New Delhi, PTI: India's textiles and apparel exports, including handicrafts, grew 7% during the April- October period to $21.35 billion, the government said on Thursday. The outbound shipments from the sector stood at $20 billion in the same period of the previous financial year, FY 2023-24. "The Ready Made Garments (RMG) category with exports of $8,733 million has the largest share (41%) in the total exports ($21,358 million) during the period of April-October of FY 2024- 25, followed by Cotton Textiles (33%, $7,082 million), Man-Made Textiles (15%, $3,105 million)," the Textiles Ministry said. Growth of exports was observed in all principal commodities during April- October of FY 2024-25, as compared to corresponding period of FY 2023-24, except wool and handloom, which declined by 19% and 6%, respectively, the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the overall import of textiles and apparel including handicrafts declined 1% during the April-October period of FY 2024-25 ($5,425 million), compared to the same period of FY 2023-24 ($5,464 million). The man-made textiles category with the import of $1,859 million has the largest share (34%) in the total imports ($5,425 million) during the period of April-October of FY 2024-25, as there is a demand-supply gap in this sector, the Ministry said. "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," the official statement said. During FY 2023-24, the import of textiles and apparel products by India stood at $8.94 billion, down by nearly 15% in comparison to $10.48 billion in FY 2022-23. India was the sixth-largest exporter of textiles and apparel in the world in 2023. The share of textile and apparel (T&A) including handicrafts in India's total exports stood at 8.21% in FY 2023-24.

"Our country has a share of 3.9% of the global trade in textiles and apparel. Major textile and apparel export destinations for India are the USA and EU with around 47% share in total textile and apparel exports. "India is a major textile and apparel exporting country and enjoys a trade surplus. The bulk of import takes place for re-export or industry requirement of raw material," the Textile Ministry said.

It is noteworthy that export is a function of demand and supply and depends on factors such as global demand, internal consumption, and demand, order flow, logistics, etc. Exports in FY 2024 were initially low mainly due to the geopolitical crises around the Red Sea, which affected export movement during January, February, and March 2024, the Ministry stated.