.Apparel Exports from the Country improves

The industry has been able to withstand the testing times during the pandemic wherein despite the global demand being stagnant, Chairman of the Apparel Export Council NarenGoenka said. He was addressing 44^th annual general meeting of the Council.

The Apparel Export promotion council has been playing an instrumental role by extending an exclusive support to the Apparel industry of India for enhancing its Global reach.  AEPC has taken upon itself to take the existing exports of 16-17 to 40 billion US dollars by 2030.” 

Various steps initiated by the council to increase exports include an in-house Market Intelligence Cell to keep the track of trends in import demands forecasted for 2030 and the efforts have been taken at various fronts to hand hold the industry on two fronts. Focusing on strengthening our core strength in our traditional exports of cotton by promoting Kasturi cotton and traceability systems with the support from TEXPROCIL.

 Handholding the industry for a gradual shift to newer areas of technical textiles, MMF and new product categories including workwear, uniforms, which are high on demand in the international market. Appreciating the fact that our exports have been primarily concentrated to EU & USA, AEPC has been taking various steps to help the industry to diversify its focus to new emerging markets of FTA countries including Australia and UAE and also Latin America and Africa by shifting the focus of our trade events to emerging markets under MAI, conducting webinars and capacity building programs,

Enhancing FDI to increase economies of scale is very important for India’s export competitiveness in the Ready Made Garments sector: Currently, the apparel industry receives a very low level of FDI investment though 100% FDI is allowed in the textile sector under the automatic route. Bringing investment in the garment sector to realize its full potential is the focus of the council.” To reach the target, we will need to; focus on Innovation to cut cost and faster clearances, expand our market and product basket, bridge the product mismatch, adopt cluster-based model, bring investment in the garment sector, enhance branding efforts, harness potential of e- commerce and FTAs, practice sustainability and responsible business practices, foster strategic partnerships, etc. he added.

The council has requested the Textiles Ministry to extend the ROSCTL scheme for a minimum period of three years. This scheme has helped the Apparel Industry immensely to plan the business on a consistent basis while staying competitive. Now that the market sentiments have touched an all-time low and the traditional markets of USA & EU are facing unprecedented recessionary trends, the extension of this scheme beyond 31st March, 2024 has become a dire necessity. He said that PM MITRA and PLI Scheme will help the textiles sector immensely.