Apparel exports from India are expected to make a recovery in the current fiscal year. The declining trend witnessed in the last two years may be reversed. So far there were intense competitive pressures from nations having a cost advantage over India. This constrained the overall momentum of the apparel export sector in India. But now changes are taking place in the global market. Both Bangladesh and Vietnam are now seeing some sort of slowdown. Apart from price differential, buyers are now also looking at various other factors including compliance, diversity and stability. Considering all these factors, India is gradually gaining an edge over them.

The domestic apparel market is expected to continue its growth trajectory. Having grown at a CAGR of 13.8 per cent from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2018, the domestic market is likely to grow at a CAGR of around 12 per cent in the coming years, driven by the growth in the economy leading to a rise in disposable income as also other favorable macro-economic factors.

Presence in the niche and value-added product segments, together with access to an established client base, has helped export-based companies to maintain revenue growth. Favorable currency movements and a healthy growth in revenues have facilitated an improvement in margins.