India’s cloth boost Ministry drafts plan to recapture edge over Bangladesh, China; targets$ 100 bn import
India is working to recapture its price edge in the global fabrics request as Bangladesh, Vietnam and China come more competitive.
Recapture edge over Bangladesh
The government is preparing a cost- reduction roadmap that will be rolled out in phases a short term plan for two times, five times for medium plan and a plan for the long term. The plan will examine all major cost factors similar as raw accoutrements, labour rules, levies and compliance conditions to make product and exports cheaper, ET reported.
Officers involved in the exercise said the roadmap aims to identify where India’s cost structure is advanced than its rivals and address those gaps. “ The idea is to standard India’s costs against crucial global challengers and work on measures to lower the product and import costs and reduce destruction in manufacturing, ” said an functionary.
Why Indian fabrics pause behind?
Despite being one of the world’s largest cloth directors, India is floundering on several fronts. High logistics and energy charges add to the burden of expensive raw accoutrements, eroding the country’s edge in global requests. In comparison, both Bangladesh and Vietnam operate with lower costs and better productivity. Their labour laws are considered more flexible, and they enjoy duty-free access to raw accoutrements and crucial requests similar as Europe.
Recapture edge over Bangladesh
Vietnam also vessels goods to China without duty walls, while Bangladesh benefits from a pay envelope structure that remains cheaper than India’s. Assiduity representatives estimate that labour productivity in these contending countries is 20 to 40 advanced. The new frame is anticipated to boost cloth exports from the current position of about$ 40 billion to$ 100 billion by 2030, according to ET.
Textile ministry’s trouble.
As part of this trouble, the fabrics ministry is erecting systems to ameliorate exploration and development across fibres, fabrics, specialized fabrics, sustainable accoutrements and digital traceability. A commission has formerly been set up to explore how invention can be bedded into branding and design for transnational requests, along with creating openings for design houses and start- ups working in new- age fabrics.
“ expansive consultations with assiduity associations, banks, invention labs, start- ups and transnational experts would be done, ” the functionary added.
Indeed as the government works on the roadmap, data shows the assiduity’s pace remains slow. In the first half of FY26, cloth and vesture exports grew only 0.39 time- on- time.
Sanjay Jain, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce’s National Expert Committee on fabrics, said reforms would play a crucial part in reducing costs. “ Removing Quality Control Orders, labour law rationalisation and a free trade agreement with Europe will help reduce costs in a major way, ” he told ET.
The Economic Survey FY25 also flagged rising cost pressures encyclopedically, noting that the shift towards sustainable sourcing is anticipated to raise charges for cloth manufacturers in the coming times.
