Government to promote Indian textile exports following two years of decline

The Indian government is increasing its focus on boosting the country’s textile exports, after numbers dropped in both the 2023 and 2024 financial years, to reach its target of $100 billion in textile exports by 2030.

“We had challenges like the Red Sea crisis making it slightly more challenging,” said government textiles secretary Rachna Shah, the Press Trust of India reported. “We will be looking at more focused attention on products which have greater export potential and the production linked incentive scheme is focused on those globally traded products.”
 
The government’s production linked incentive scheme is designed to increase domestic manufacturing through financial incentives to reduce imports and create local employment opportunities. First launched in 2020, the scheme covers 14 industries including textiles.
 
“We should look at higher exports happening now,” said Shah. “The global demand also will start looking better. Already in the first quarter we have seen some of our exporters have reported that the order positions for apparel, made ups etc, is looking up so that should play out.”
 
The Indian government has been keen to pursue free trade agreements with other nations in order to gain the same benefits as its competitors in the global apparel market such as Vietnam and Bangladesh. India has struggled to compete with the reduced labour costs and larger operational footprints of certain other nations and is taking steps to counter this.