"As per recent data released by the Union Textiles Ministry, textile and clothing industry has been seen a decline in exports. Exports fell marginally by 0.2 per cent to $36639.4 million (FY 2016-17) over the previous fiscal. In the exports segment, textiles and clothing accounts 13 per cent of the country's total exports in the last fiscal, where in 2015-16 and 2014-15, the sector accounted for 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. Presently apparels are ruling the export basket with a 48 per cent stake in the total T&C exports with a growth of 6.6 per cent in 2016-17."

As per recent data released by the Union Textiles Ministry, textile and clothing industry has been seen a decline in exports. Exports fell marginally by 0.2 per cent to $36639.4 million (FY 2016-17) over the previous fiscal. In the exports segment, textiles and clothing accounts 13 per cent of the country's total exports in the last fiscal, where in 2015-16 and 2014-15, the sector accounted for 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. Presently apparels are ruling the export basket with a 48 per cent stake in the total T&C exports with a growth of 6.6 per cent in 2016-17. After seeing this trend, the government has cut down export target to $45000 million for the current fiscal.

Country wise, the US is the largest export market for India. Exports to the US grew 1.1 per cent to $7604.38 million in the last fiscal, accounting for 21 per cent share in India's total T&C exports. Apparel exports to the US totaled $3861.96 million, thereby accounting for 50 per cent share from the total T&C export to the US. Cotton exports to the US decreased by 5.5 per cent to $116.31 million in the last fiscal. Other large export markets are UAE, UK, Bangladesh, Germany, China, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Cotton export trends

In FY 16-17, cotton exports registered a decline of 9.2 per cent to $6637.63 million as compared to the previous fiscal FY15-16. Bangladesh has taken up the spot of China by becoming the largest importer of Indian cotton owing to continued low demand from China. Exports to Bangladesh were valued at $1602.53 million with a share of 24 per cent from the total cotton exports, while exports to China closed at $1348.43 million. Though registering decline, Pakistan still managed to retain its third position while cotton exports to Vietnam registered growth of 7.5 per cent to $281.81 million.

Yarn exports

Overall cotton yarn exports witnessed negative growth of 7.15 per cent to $3350.2 million in FY 16-17. Though China was the top importer of Indian cotton yarns, volume reduced 29 per cent to $1048.83 million. If Bangladesh's demand catches up in the future, there are chances of Indian yarn exports registering an upswing again.

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Apparel exports registered 6.6 per cent growth to $17478.97 million in 2016-17. In the apparels, woven apparels led the pack with 53 per cent share. In this section, women/girls suit, jacket, dresses, skirt, blazers etc., were the highest exported products from India, valued at $2422.02 million in the last fiscal. Knitwear apparel exports also registered impressive growth of 7.8 per cent to $8266.95 million in the last fiscal year. UAE took over US as India's leading market for knitwear exports, totaling at $2131.66 million in 2016-17. The other top knitwear export markets are USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arab, Netherland and Poland.

Man-made fibres

This segment has been registering negative growth for the past three years. In 2016-17, the MMF exports fell by 3.1 per cent to $ 1995.05 million compared to the previous year. The commodity accounts for 5 per cent share from the total T&C exports of the country. Under MMF section, synthetic filament yarn is the main commodity exported with value of $ 1041.34 million with growth of 10 per cent in the last fiscal. As per the statistics, Turkey is the biggest market for India's MMF exports. India has exported $256.18 million of MMF commodity to Turkey in 2016-17. Brazil, being the second largest model, witnessed 69.8 per cent growth to $201.46 million.

Import scenario

As far as imports are concerned, cotton imports ruled with 19 per cent share from the total T&C imports of the country. The cotton imports have witnessed a growth of 88.8 per cent to $ 1132.09 million in 2016-17. India has imported most of the cotton from USA and Australia. India's imported cotton from US totaled $289.51 million in the last fiscal. China stands at third position in the cotton imports of India, witnessing a negative growth of 4.2 per cent to $124.37 million.