After a sharp decline in April, readymade garment exports have started picking up especially in Ludhiana. In April, Ludhiana exported garments worth Rs 962.92 crore as compared to Rs 9,786.03 crore in April last year. However, exports rose to Rs 3,908.80 crore in May, Rs 6,083.70 crore in June and Rs 7,973.06 crore in July.

India has been witnessing a fall in exports since January but this was less than 5 per cent on a month on month basis. However, exports declined 30 per cent in March, 90 per cent in April, 63 per cent in May, 29 per cent in June and 15 per cent in July. Exporters say, it would be difficult to register positive growth this year as shipments in the first four months of the current fiscal have already declined by 51 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Besides decline in exports and working capital crunch, the industry also suffers from labor shortage and the exporters are unable to execute the orders in a time-bound manner, said Harush Dua, Managing Director, KG Exports.