India garment exports hit $7.07bn during April-Aug period

India garment exports due to steady flow of orders from Europe and a weaker rupee witnessed a jump of 23% in August to $1.38billion. With a robust growth in August, exports in the April-August period hit $7.07 billion, up 18% y-o-y, according to the Apparel Exports Promotion Council (AEPC) data.

Having slipped nearly 6% in the last fiscal and witnessing a drop in 10 of the 12 months of 2012-13, garment exports started picking up since March last year as the domestic currency continued a downward journey and demand from the US started picking up due to an economic recovery.

Soaring costs in China and problems in compliance of global safety norms at Bangladeshi mills also helped India’s export growth, according to the industry executives.

Garment exports increased 15.4% last fiscal to $14.94 billion after witnessing a fall a year ago. However, the exports still fell short of the textile ministry’s ambitious target of $17 billion for the last fiscal, as an absence of policy intervention and a strengthening rupee after initial depreciation against the dollar hurt exporters’ competitiveness.

The apparel export growth was higher than the 4% rise in the country’s overall exports last fiscal.