As per the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Indian apparel industry is witnessing an upswing and the exports are likely to go up to $17 billion in the next two years from $13 billion last year on the back of economic recovery in the US and Europe markets, which represent around 65 percent share in the country's total apparel exports. Indian apparel exports have picked up in the last six months as compared to negative growth in the previous two years.
Chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), A Sakthivel said that the orders that went to neighbouring countries came to India due to industry compliance issues in those nations. On the other hand, Indian apparel industry is compliance-oriented, which has resulted into rise in domestic business. By adding further, Sakthivel said that current scenario looks good for Indian apparel exports and the other factors like depreciation of rupee is also helping the industry to a certain extent. Meanwhile, manufacturing cost of the sector is also going up simultaneously due to rupee depreciation as it imports large quantities of raw material to make items for export purposes, he added.
Regarding the competition from China, A Sakthivel said that Chinas is one of the biggest competitors for India but the industry manufacturing cost has gone up over the years in that country. The domestic industry consist a key player in cotton apparel exports and is known for value added exports like embroidery sequence and especially ladies wear. The neighboring countries are not as much competitive in this segment. So far, this year, Indian apparel industry grew by average growth rate of 14 percent.
