New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) India’s textile and apparel exports, including handicrafts, increased from Rs 2,97,004 crore in 2023–24 to Rs 3,25,339 crore in 2025–26, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) growth of 4.7 per cent during the period, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

While the US, Bangladesh, the UAE, the UK and Germany were the top five destinations, the exports registered growth across more than 100 countries in 2025–26 compared with 2024–25, Minister of State for Textiles Pabitra Margherita stated in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The minister further said that the government is regularly monitoring India’s export of textile and apparel and continues to work with all stakeholders, including exporters and industry, to mitigate the impact of any challenges and takes various measures to boost production and competitiveness of exports in the textile sector.

The government is implementing various schemes and initiatives to boost the Indian textile and apparel sector and enhance its competitiveness, and these measures are contributing to the growth of exports from the country.

The major schemes include PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks Scheme; Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme; National Technical Textiles Mission; SAMARTH – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector; Silk Samagra-2; National Handloom Development Programme; National Handicrafts Development Programme; Comprehensive Handicrafts Cluster Development Scheme; Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) Scheme; Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) Scheme; Export Promotion Mission (EPM), comprising Niryat Protsahan and Niryat Disha; and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exporters (CGSE), the minister informed.

The government has also adopted a focused export-promotion and market-diversification strategy covering 40 priority countries. The 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which are in force, including the India–United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA); and the concluded FTAs with the European Union (EU) and New Zealand provide an opportunity for Indian textiles and apparel sector to enhance their exports and undertake market diversification.

Besides, the government of India launched RELIEF (Resilience and Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation) on March 19, 2026 under the Export Promotion Mission to support exporters affected by disruptions arising from the West Asia/Middle East conflict and maritime challenges in the Gulf region.

Further, customs duty on imports of cotton has been temporarily exempted from June 1 to October 31, 2026 to augment domestic availability of the raw material for textile and apparel production.

The government has also approved the Mission for Cotton Productivity for the period 2026–27 to 2030–31 to address key bottlenecks, improve productivity growth, and resolve quality-related concerns in India’s cotton sector, the minister stated.

Besides, the government has implemented the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) Scheme since March 2019, to rebate all embedded State and Central taxes/levies on export of apparel/garments and made-ups to provide support and enhance competitiveness of these sectors.

Further, the recent extension of the scheme up to September 30 provides policy stability, strengthens competitiveness of Indian textile exports, the minister added.

–IANS

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