Where are India's textile and apparel exports to?

Since July of last year, India's textile and apparel export value has experienced negative year-on-year growth for 10 consecutive months, and the decline has remained at around 20%. Recently, the data for April showed a year-on-year drop of 21%, with the decline for textiles at 19.2% and for apparel at 23.2%. From January to April, India's cumulative textile and apparel export value was $11.95 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 20.1%.

Since India's textile and apparel exports have declined for several months, which markets have they primarily headed, and which markets have seen the most significant decline? The following chart shows the market share of India's textile and apparel exports over the years.

Note: Calculated from code HS50-63

Currently, the United States is the largest market for India's textile and apparel exports, followed by the EU-27, and then Bangladesh. Exports to the UK and UAE are around 6%, while exports to ASEAN and China are relatively small. Since 2010, India's textile and apparel export direction has gradually shifted from the EU-27 to the United States, and the EU-27 has fallen to second place. Last year, exports to the U.S. accounted for nearly 28%, which declined to 25.5% in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, exports to the EU-27 increased to 21% in the first quarter of this year. The following chart shows the year-on-year changes of the main markets for India's textile and apparel export.

Note: Calculated from code HS50-63

As can be seen from the above chart, in the first quarter of this year, except for China, which showed good growth, other major export markets for India's textile and apparel remained in a downward trend. Especially in exports to Bangladesh, where the decline was significant at around 60%, followed by a decline of about 32% in exports to ASEAN. The largest export market, the United States, also saw a year-on-year decline of 25%, while the decline in the EU 27 was slightly smaller.

Summary: Although India's textile and apparel industry is mainly focused on the domestic market, it still faces pressure in the absence of support from the export market. Since the second half of last year, the pressure on India's textile and apparel exports has increased obviously, and as of April this year, there has been no significant turnaround yet. This situation is expected to improve in the second half of the year. Looking at India's textile and apparel export market, the United States remains the largest market, followed by the EU-27, Bangladesh and the UAE also occupy a certain share, while the shares of China and ASEAN are relatively small. However, in the first quarter of 2023, nearly 70% of India's export markets experienced a significant year-on-year decline, with only exports to China showing some growth.