Indian textile and apparel exports increased in May 2024 despite challenges in major markets.
Indian textile exports saw a 9.59 percent rise in May 2024 compared to the previous year, despite facing unfavorable economic conditions in key markets like the European Union, the US, and West Asia, according to a report by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI). Concurrently, Indian apparel exports grew by 9.84 percent during the same period. The CITI report also highlighted that the combined exports of textiles and apparel in May 2024 increased by 9.70 percent over May last year.
Overall, the country’s exports for May 2024 surged to $68.29 billion, marking a significant year-on-year increase of 10.2 percent, as per data released by the Commerce Ministry on June 14. The analysis revealed that Indian textile exports grew by 6.04 percent and apparel exports by 4.46 percent during April-May 2024 compared to the previous year. The cumulative exports of textiles and apparel during this period saw a growth of 5.34 percent.
The export data indicated robust performance in sectors such as electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering goods, petroleum products, plastics, and textiles, including handloom products and man-made fabrics. Other merchandise like meat, dairy, poultry, minerals, ready-made garments, tea, coffee, rice, tobacco, carpets, handicrafts, oil seeds, and fruits and vegetables also showed strong export performance.
Ashwani Kumar, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), noted a positive trajectory in May 2024, driven by strong order bookings. Among India’s top ten export markets were the US, UAE, Netherlands, UK, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Germany, and France, where exports registered double-digit growth rates.
