Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) in a recently concluded study observed that India is lagging behind in cotton exports to major markets. The situation has been created because of the duty disadvantage India is faced with as against Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan. These countries enjoy duty free access.
The study observed that a whopping 25 per cent slump in Indian exports has occurred in the past five years to markets in EU and China. Citing figures CITI stated that Indian cotton yarn exports fell from USD 4.5 billion in 2013-14 to USD 3.4 billion in 2017-18.
Earlier India was the biggest exporter of cotton yarn to China. Now China has replaced India with Vietnam and Indonesia. These countries have duty free access to the Chinese markets whereas Indian yarn comes with 3.5 per cent duty. The study also pointed out that fabric export from India has fallen by 7 per cent.
