India ahead of China in readymade garments exports

New Delhi: Amid concerns over several larger overseas buyers seeking reduction in prices in the wake of a drop in cotton prices, here's some silver lining for garment exporters.

Export of readymade garments from India has grown faster than those shipped from China for a bulk of 2014, although the rise is on a much smaller base. According to UN Comtrade data, during January-October 2014, India's garment exports rose 14.6% to $14 billion. In contrast, exports from China were 6.5% higher at $145 billion, which in value terms is 10 times higher.

The news will come as some sort of a relief to Indian exporters, many of whom have been asked to reduce costs by 6-8% by their overseas buyers, who want a share of the higher margins due to a steep fall in cotton prices, which account for a major chunk of the overall costs.

The strong growth in recent months has, however, made the exporters confident that the garment sector will grow by around 20%. "If we go by this projection, our garment exports will be reaching an ambitious target of achieving exports of $ 37.3 billion by 2018-19. In this financial year (April- December 2014), India's garment exports kept growing at the rate of 15%. This impressive growth is a clear cut indication that India is emerging as one of the top sourcing and compliant destinations for the buyers in the world," AEPC chairman Virendra Uppal said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.