Bangladesh and Vietnam have jumped ahead of India in knitwear exports over the past decade. The export share of Bangladesh in cotton underwear in the US market has grown from 5.5 per cent in 2005 and presently grown to 16.4 per cent.

In the same period, cotton-made underwear garment exports from Vietnam grew exponentially from a minuscule 0.3 per cent to 20.9 per cent. But the market share of cotton-made underwear garments from India to the United States was 3.9 per cent in 2005 and presently grown to 9.9 per cent.

The share of Tirupur knitwear exports in India’s total garment exports is 20 per cent. More than 80 per cent of the industries in this sector are medium and small scale.

Exporters want a one-time long term initiative to be undertaken to uplift the skill proficiency of existing laborers in order to increase productivity at par with competing countries and at the same time reduce waste.

Exporters also feel this is the right time for the knitwear sector to capture the market that’s leaving China, due to an increase in cost of manufacturing. If the opportunity is missed, the market would be captured by competing countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.