Indian entrepreneurs have begun to look at the domestic market. A few manufacturers have come up with new brands and marketing campaigns to woo local buyers. They are confident of creating over a dozen clothing brands that can rake in Rs 500 crores in revenue in the domestic market.

This is true especially in Tamil Nadu. Traditionally evolved as an export-oriented ecosystem, manufacturers of Tirupur or Coimbatore have had to decode currency undulations, rising labor costs and make do with a lighter incentive basket even as states such as Gujarat and Telengana gave periodic boosts to manufacturers. On top of that remains the heightened competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, which enjoy duty-free access into the European market.

Exporters also want to have a share of the widening e-commerce market, as a hedge against the vagaries of the exports market that they have been faced with for the past few decades. The online fashion market in India is projected to grow nearly 3.5 times from the current size and entrepreneurs do not want to miss the wave.

Global apparel trade has been seeing sustained sluggish growth. In the absence of free trade agreements, or because of similar arrangements enjoyed by competing nations, Indian entrepreneurs have become conscious of the need to get deeper into the domestic market.