US buyers are banking on India’s differential strength. Medium and high-end market segment is coming back to India for more luxury items, organic-based products. Buyers are optimistic about India, and especially in comparison to China. They say Indian exporters’ ways of approaching customers are much better than those of the Chinese.

New US companies are now exploring India. Boston International for example is sourcing kitchen and table linen from India. It used to source from China but found it could not get the variety of artwork and detailing that could keep customers interested. So Boston explored India for textiles and right from the start found Indian designs very compatible and the printing and overall quality in Indian products very good and consistent. In shade variation too India proved better than China.

However, delivery timing is an issue with Indian exporters and they need to improve on this. There is also a feeling Indian exporters need to study their prospective clients or customers more deeply. Not everyone is open to new ideas, and more research is a problem with many Indian exporters, but sooner or later they have to change this mindset as even within a city, buyers of similar products are quite different.