India has increased import duties on textile and apparel items. The aim is to protect domestic manufacturers from rising imports. The import duty which was earlier 10 per cent will be 20 per cent for these items. There has been an increase in the import duty on 24 knitted apparel categories, 24 woven apparel, ten categories of carpet, six nonwovens, three categories of laminated fabric, two knitted fabric, two categories of woven fabric, two categories of made-ups and three other categories.

The measures are a major relief for garment and carpet manufacturers who were under immense pressure post GST. From 2016-17 to 2017-18, India’s imports of textile and apparel products have grown at 16 per cent. The commodities on which import duty has been increased account for 26 per cent of total imports by India.

The apparel commodities on which import duty has been increased account for 82 per cent of total apparel imports. This is expected to prevent apparel imports from China, which is the largest supplier of apparel to India. However, the big issue of imports from Bangladesh remains. These imports are exempt from basic customs duty and hence, are a gateway for Chinese fabrics entering India duty free. This is because no rules of origin are in place for duty-free imports from Bangladesh.