Between January and October 2013, readymade shipments by Indian garment exporters to the US grew 6.3 per cent while readymade shipments by Bangladesh jumped 11.4 per cent. Bangladesh’s garment exports increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6 per cent. While that of India rose at a CAGR of just 6.8 per cent in the same period.

Bangladesh has been aggressively pushing garment exports and come up with a slew of policies to facilitate the industry. Among these are uninterrupted power supply and priority at the Chittagong port for shipment. Garment exports contribute 80 per cent of Bangladesh’s total export earnings.

In fact, many sourcing companies have South Asia offices in India, but they source garments from either Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Apparel companies are tied to low-wage, high-capacity countries like Bangladesh. However, because of recent accidents like a spate of fires and the collapse of garment factories, there was a slowdown in Bangladesh’s garment exports. But since then the sector has shown a remarkable revival. Bangladesh is likely to remain the top destination for new apparel sourcing over the next five years.

Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry, which took 30 years to build up, is made up of more than 4,500 factories and four million workers.