India’s textiles and allied product exports stood at just $30.4 billion in FY21, down 10% from a year before due to the Covid crisis. In the first five months of this fiscal, such exports jumped by 87% on year to $16.6 billion, aided by strong economic recovery in key markets such as the US and the EU. Still, the target remains much too ambitious.

The government has set an “aspirational” target of $100 billion for textiles and garment exports over the next five years, the textile ministry said on Thursday. It called on the industry to take advantage of a global market shift where China is pruning its market share in the labour-intensive segment.

India’s textiles and allied product exports stood at just $30.4 billion in FY21, down 10% from a year before due to the Covid crisis. In the first five months of this fiscal, such exports jumped by 87% on year to $16.6 billion, aided by strong economic recovery in key markets such as the US and the EU. Still, the target remains much too ambitious.

“We will remain committed to ensuring implementation of all development schemes and bring in many more schemes in pursuit of this aspiration,” said Darshana Vikram Jardosh, minister of state for textiles. She was speaking at an international conference on textiles & apparel, organized by industry body CII on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Cabinet approved a scheme to incentivise investments in setting up mega textile parks to build scale in the fragmented sector. It followed a Rs 10,683-crore production-linked incentive scheme for man-made fibre products and technical textiles. Export tax refund schemes like the RoDTEP and RoSCTL have also been launched in recent years to improve the country’s export competitiveness.

Speaking on the occasion, textile secretary Upendra Prasad Singh said the government is making efforts to address various challenges and facilitate the creation of an “enabling environment” for the growth of the sector.

Kulin Lalbhai, co-chairman of the CII National Committee on Textiles and Apparel and executive director at Arvind, said, “The growing sentiment around ‘China plus one’ sourcing is a golden opportunity for Indian textiles to stage a turnaround and gain back its leadership position as a lead exporting economy.”

https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/govt-sets-lofty-100-billion-textile-export-target-in-5-years/2354441/