Imports decreased 15% in FY23-24
Overall export of Textiles & Apparel, including handicrafts, marked a growth of 7% during April-October period of FY 2024-25, reaching US$21,358 million compared to US$20,007 million for the same period of FY 2023-24, says the Ministry of Textile in a yearend review for 2024 https://fieo.org/.
Ready Made Garments (RMG) category with export of US$8,733 million has the largest share (41%) in the total exports (US$21,358 million) during the period of April-October of FY 2024-25, followed by Cotton Textiles (33%, or US$7,082 million), Man-Made Textiles (15%, or US$3,105 million) https://www.makeinindia.com/home/.
Growth of exports is observed in all principal commodities during the period of April-October of FY 2024-25 compared to corresponding period of FY 2023-24, except wool and handloom which decline by 19% and 6%, respectively.
Import of Textile & Apparel Including Handicrafts (Apr-Oct)
Import of textiles and apparel products by India during FY 2023-24 (US$8,946 million) has decreased by approximately 15% in comparison to FY 2022-23 (US$10,481 million) https://www.bseindia.com/.
The overall import of Textiles & Apparel (including handicrafts) declined 1% during April-October period of FY 2024-25 (US$5,425 million) compared to same period of FY 2023-24 (US$5,464 million) https://www.nseindia.com/.
Man-made Textiles category with import of US$1,859 million has the largest share (34%) in the total imports (US$5,425 million) during the period of April-October of FY 2024-25, as there is demand supply gap in this sector, the Ministry said on 2 Jan 2025.
The Ministry highlighted that India was the 6th largest exporter of Textiles & Apparel in the world in 2023. The share of textile and apparel (T&A) including handicrafts in India’s total exports stands at a significant 8.21% in 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 USA and EU and with around 47% share in total textile and apparel exports. India is a major textile and apparel exporting country and enjoys trade surplus.
Bulk of import takes place for re-export or for industry requirement of raw material.
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 also gets affected by many geopolitical situations (such as red sea crisis, Bangladesh crisis etc.). Export in FY 2024 was initially low mainly due to the geopolitical crises around red sea, which affected export movement during January, February and March 2024. Fiinews.com