India’s production volumes of textiles are significantly lower than in May 2016. Textiles manufacturing declined 0.5 per cent and apparels by 12.8 per cent. This decline was over and above the 3.2 and 6 per cent dip in May 2017, when total production declined 4.9 per cent. This only shows that the decline has accelerated instead of rebounding. In May 2018, the two components together declined 8.9 per cent year on year.

A recovery can only happen if investment climate improves and income grows. Overall employment generation needs to be accelerated quickly to revive the textile industry. In fact, India’s textile and clothing sector is witnessing signs of recovery and expected to perform better in export and domestic markets this year.

The sector saw a major hit due to demonetisation, implementation of GST, rupee appreciation, and high domestic cotton prices. India is now poised to overtake China in the textile sector by capitalizing on factors such as cheaper labor and modernization. With quality and skilled labor and machinery, India can easily overcome Chinese competition in the textile industry as labor costs in China are very high compared to India’s.

India aims to double the annual revenue of the textile industry in the country by 2025.