A collaborative initiative by India’s textiles and apparel (T&A) industry has set for itself a 5-point agenda to address the current challenges impacting growth and meet the ambitious target of US$ 100 billion in exports by 2030.
- A joint initiative by leading textile associations and export promotion councils, the ‘5-Point Agenda for the Indian T&A Industry (2025-26)’, outlines immediate policy interventions needed to achieve India’s export target for 2025-26 and drive the industry toward a collective goal of US$ 100 billion in exports by 2030.
ATEXCON 2025: An outcome of the just-concluded 12th edition of the Asian Textile Conference (ATEXCON 2025), organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), the meet underscored that India’s T&A sector must register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 18% for the period 2025-2030.
- Falling short of this target, T&A exports have been stagnant at the 2015 level (US$ 37.15 billion).
THE 5-POINT AGENDA: India’s T&A industry will be well-positioned to overcome current challenges, leverage emerging global opportunities, and realise its long-term growth potential by focusing on these priority areas:
- Ensure enough availability of raw materials of all types including cotton, MMF and specialised fibre/filaments/yarns at internationally competitive prices. Towards this, government should remove all import restrictions and barriers on all types raw materials especially those which are not available domestically in terms of required quality or quantity.
- Remove 10% import duty from cotton fibres of all varieties to enhance the cost competitiveness of the entire cotton value chain. The latest estimate of cotton balance sheet by government shows a demand-supply gap of about 38 lakh bales for current year and hence there is a dire need to allow duty free imports.
- Announce incentivisation scheme with a mix of an upfront capital subsidy and performance-based incentive to catalyse investment across the value chain. A special focus may be put on the processing sector in this regard.
- Fast track implementation of PM MITRA parks
- Expedite FTAs with markets like EU and USA which will provide Indian exporters a level playing field with its competitors.
Apart from the above, there should not be a further increase in GST rates for readymade garments products.
- The signatories to this agenda included: Rakesh Mehra, Chairman, CITI, Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor, Clothing Manufacturer’s Association of India (CMAI), Shaleen Toshniwal, Vice-chairman, MATEXIL, K Sakthivel, Chairman, PDEXCIL, S K Sundararaman, Chairman, Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), and Siddhartha Rajagopal, Executive Director, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL)
THE CONTEXT: Asia continues to be the backbone of the global textile and apparel sector, contributing significantly across the value chain.
- The region accounts for approximately 63% of the world’s total cotton production and a whopping 90% of the world’s man-made fiber (MMF) production, making it the global leader in raw material supply.
- Furthermore, with around 90% of the world’s total spinning capacity and 85% of global knitting capacity, Asia remains the largest manufacturing base worldwide.
ABOUT ATEXCON: Recognised as one of Asia's most prestigious textile industry conferences, ATEXCON 2025 brought together global leaders, policymakers, and experts to explore Asia's growing influence in the global textile sector.
