Indian textile exports' growth remained flat in the first quarter of this fiscal mainly due to the weak demand in global markets like the US and Europe. During the first quarter of 2013-14, India's textiles and clothing exports have increased to $7.79 billion, from $7.76 billion in the same period of the 2012-13. During the 2012-13 fiscal, textiles exports stood at $31.71 billion.
The prevailing slowdown in major markets like the US and Europe have been affecting the domestic textiles and clothing exports as America and European markets represent around 65 percent share in the country's total textiles exports. Exporters are now exploring new markets like Australia, Japan, Israel, Latin America, Africa, South East Asia and Middle East countries to reduce dependence on western markets.
Meanwhile, the government has taken various steps to boost textiles exports including providing three percent interest subvention, incremental export incentive scheme and inclusion of new markets like New Zealand, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria under the Focus Market Scheme. The government had earlier said that textiles sector is the only sector where we can increase the exports substantially and has set an ambitious textiles exports target of $50 billion for the current fiscal. It had added that industry issues will be addressed soon and expressed the need to encourage skill development as adequate skill development will boost the production and turn down the cost of production, leading the sector to grow which in turn will help it to compete in the international market.
