India’s garment exports rose 14.05 per cent in May 2019 compared to the same month last year. This follows a downturn in exports experienced in the last two or three years because of increased competition and high cost of exports from the country. After GST, demonetisation and other reforms, which made Indian products costlier, exports started declining. In 2018-19, exports dropped 3.43 per cent from 2017-18. But from October 2018, exports increased by 12 per cent. Exports grew by 4.45 per cent in April 2019 compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

Factors which are in favor of India include China’s decision to exit the textile sector, Bangladesh’s labor becoming costly and Vietnam’s reaching a kind of plateau. These have made India an important destination once again. Despite Indian products being expensive by 10 to 15 per cent, buyers are still interested in sourcing from India. Exporters are optimistic that with support the industry can grow by eight per cent to ten per cent. In view of issues such as lower incentives and cost pressures in the industry, measures like increased rebate of state and central taxes and levies by 3.2 per cent for some items and 4.5 per cent for the other items were introduced.