The announcement of imminent sops in Annual Supplement to Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 by Anand Sharma Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles on 13th October had been hinted earlier by him, but it would be as insipid as it has turned out to be was not expected. The expectations were that the Government would provide the necessary support to the garment export industry failed to materialize. There has been an acknowledged downward trend of Indian garment exports and the future did not look quite pink in view of the economic slowdown in the US and the problem of sovereign default, hitting the Europe. Exports to Japan are likely to suffer a setback in keeping up with the recent natural calamities hitting the country hard.

Above all, the highly volatile foreign exchange rates have also added to the woes of the garment exporters, who have been forced into highly uncertain behaviour of foreign change market.

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