The export of textiles products grew 6.19% to $19.830 billion during the fiscal under review as compared to $18.674 billion a year ago and that of apparels declined sharply by 3.40% to $16.138 billion during the fiscal 2019 as against $16.706 billion in the previous financial year, said the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), citing government data.
Among textile products, cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products continued to be the largest export earner with a growth of 9.22% during the fiscal 2019 to $11.206 billion ($10.260 billion in last fiscal), man-made fabrics exports increased by 3.15% to $$4.978 billion as against $4.824 billion in the previous fiscal, CITI said.
The next big segment under the category is carpet, which saw a growth of 3.63% to $1.481 billion as compared to $1.429 billion in fiscal 2018.
According to CITI, the exports data in US dollar reflects that there has been a decline in exports of all textile products except those of cotton yarn/fabs/made-ups, handloom products and carpet in March 2019 as compared to March 2018. However, exports of total textiles have shown a slight increase during the same period.
The March exports of textile products and apparel grew 6.96% to $3.550 billion as compared to $3.319 billion in March 2018. Interestingly, apparel segment, which saw a meagre growth in fiscal, ended March 2019 with 15.13% growth to $1.717 billion.
The monthly index of industrial production (IIP) of textiles in February 2019 has declined (y-o-y basis), which is in sync with textiles exports of man-made yarn/fabs/made-ups; jute manufacturing including floor covering and handicrafts. Exports of apparels have registered a positive growth y-o-y in March 2019 which shows a positive correlation with increase in IIP of apparels in February 2019.