Indian textile exports unlikely to meet FY13 target

27 Sep '12

2 min read

The US$ 40.5 billion target set for fiscal year 2012-13 by the Government of India for textiles and apparel exports is unlikely to be achieved in view of the ongoing economic crisis in Europe and the US, according to an expert.

“I believe it will be extremely difficult to realize the export target of $40.5 billion this year because of the economic slowdown and deceleration in demand in North America and West Europe,” Mr. DK Nair, secretary general of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), told fibre2fashion.

Last month, the Ministry of Textiles had upwardly revised the textile export target for the current fiscal to US$ 40.5 billion, following the Foreign Trade Policy Supplement of 5th June, 2012 that provided incentives to the textile and clothing sector for exports.

Earlier, the Government had fixed a target of US4 38.31 billion for textile exports during 2012-13.

During the first four months of current fiscal, India’s textile exports did not perform well and the garment sector showed a significant decline.

India exported apparels worth US$ 4.2 billion, showing a decline of 14.28 percent compared to exports of US$ 4.9 billion made during the same period in 2011-12.

The decline in India’s clothing exports is attributed to the rise in cost-consciousness among Western customers, who now prefer to import low priced garments from Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries.

When quizzed about the steps being taken to increase India’s textile exports, Mr. Nair says, “There is nothing much that can be done about this, since the reasons are external to the industry and the country.”

“However, efforts are being made by exporters to diversify into new markets and the Government is also assisting this process by extending Focus Market Scheme (FMS) benefits to such markets,” he adds.

“But, there are limitations for increasing exports to new markets, which do not have huge demand. Moreover, demand recovery in the Western markets is also not likely to occur immediately, given the economic situation there,” he concludes.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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