The exports of Tiruppur Garments shrunk for the first time in the past five years. Exports from the city declined by around 8 per cent to Rs 24,000 crore in 2017-18 .

One of the main reasons for this is the slump in national exports by around 13-14 per cent since October 2018.

The incentive duty drawback scheme available to the exporters was also slashed to 2 per cent from 7.6 per cent in the latter half of the year, which put India at a disadvantage vis-à-vis competing countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Tiruppur accounts for 46 per cent of the total knitwear garment exports from the country. The total knitwear exports from the country too saw a decline last year. But the drop has been more for Tiruppur exports. Delay in refund of GST and state levies is pointed out as another reason for the setback to exports as it crimped the working capital flow.