Govt aims $ 30 billion textile exports in FY12

The government targets textile exports of $ 30 billion in 2011-12, as demand is on the rise in the western markets, Textiles Secretary Rita Menon said on Thursday.

Textiles exports, which were hit by the global economic slowdown in 2009-10, improved in the last fiscal and were tad higher than the target of $ 25 billion.

"In this fiscal, we are targeting to achieve exports in the range of USD 28-30 billion," Menon said.

She said the overseas situation for textile exporters was not good till November last year, but things changed in the final quarter of 2010-11 and they started getting orders.

Experts said while exporters are getting good orders from the US, European markets are slightly down but up from the pre-crisis level.

The US and Europe together account for 50 per cent of the country's textile exports.

"Europe is still weak," the Director General of FIEO, an exporters' body, Ajay Sahai, said. In 2010-11, garment exports crossed $ 11.1 billion, showing a growth of 4.23 per cent year-on-year.

Similarly, shipments of cotton yarn were up 42.87 per cent at $ 5.66 billion. Exports of carpet and handicrafts went up by 30 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry has suggested that increased investment is required in the textiles industry.

"This infusion of investment is critically required if we are to compete with our major competitors like China, Bangladesh and Vietnam," according to the Commerce Ministry's strategy paper to double India's exports in next three years.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia recently said India needs to focus more on textile and leather item exports to take advantage of the shift in Chinese policy toward boosting domestic consumption.