India sets export target at $47.5bn for textile and clothing in 2015-16

The achhe din for the textile sector has started to arrive, said textile minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Monday, as the Narendra Modi govenrment completes one year. The government has set target of $47.5 billion for textile and clothing exports for the current fiscal year, aiming for an almost 14% rise in outbound shipments from the actual level of 2014-15.

The country’s overall textile and garment exports grew roughly 5% to $41.4 billion against the official target of $45 billion for 2014-15, said a textile ministry official. Earlier, quick estimates had showed that the exports during the April-February period went up by nearly 2% from a year before.

With demand from China remaining tepid and the government withdrawing certain export incentives to the sector, the shipment target for the current fiscal would be hard to achieve, especially in view of stiff competition from countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

For its part, the textile ministry has sought a quick resolution of the India-EU free trade agreement, which would pave the way for duty-free access of Indian textile and garment items to the EU, which account for more than a third of the country’s garment exports, the senior ministry official said.

Similarly, the ministry has asked for the continuation of the interest subvention scheme, which was withdrawn from late 2014, to boost exports.

According to Industry executives, under the scheme, certain segments like the SMEs, handlooms, handicrafts and garments, were entitled to a 3% interest subvention on export credit. The industry wants certain incentives to capture markets in countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Currently domestic textile exporters are given a 2% export incentive for outbound shipments only to the US, the EU, Canada and Japan — the markets where the appetite is far more for garments than for textiles