Apparel exports rose 11.7% in November: AEPC

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Dec 19, 2022

Indian apparel exports rose by 11.7% to total $1.2 billion following several months of decline this November. The Apparel Export Promotion Council is confident this shows the resilience of the sector and is moving the government to address remaining issues to help further boost exports. 

The past few months had been a rough patch for India’s ready made garment exports due to factors including falling demand in countries including the UK and US on account of their recession leaning markets, the AEPC announced on Friday, ET Bureau reported. Rising raw materials costs and challenges with freight due to the Russia- Ukraine war also caused disruption but the sector appears to be recovering. 
 
“However, after a few months of slip, ready-made garment exports have again turned positive signalling the resilience of the industry to adjust to the prevailing challenges,” said AEPC chairman Naren Goenka, the Press Trust of India reported. “We have been able to achieve more than $10 billion during April to November 2022.” This figure is against a target of $17.6billion for the whole of the 2023 financial year. 

Issues that continue to cause challenges for the sector include the current state of the Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes and its disbursements through bank transfer and the A ended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme among others. The AEPC has brought these issues to the government and has communicated that solving these problems will help to increase exports.