After losing momentum during 2020 due to COVID-19, apparel exports from India are gaining pace once more. In the first two months of 2022, shipments rose 10.30 per cent to 736.65 million pieces over the corresponding period in 2021. Average price per garment also increased to $4.28 during the period. As per a report by Apparel Resources exports calculated using official DGFT statistics, India’s apparel exports increased to 3.72 billion pieces in 2021 as compared to 3.13 billion pieces in 2020.In value terms, India’s apparel exports increased 24 per cent to $15.21 billion during 2021 as against exports worth $12.27 billion in 2020. India’s average price per garment also increased to $4.08 in 2021, compared to $3.92 in 2020.

Compared to pre-pandemic period, India’s garment shipments still need to regain pace quantity-wise. In 2019, India exported 3.85 billion garment pieces worth $16.25 billion with each of the garment pieces costing $4.22 billion. However, looking at Y-o-Y growth in 2021 and increase in the first two months of 2022, India should recover previous levels of apparel export growth in remaining months of this year.