Attire exporters on Friday raised an alarm over steep 25 per cent US tariffs, stating that they must promote under value to maintain their factories working and keep away from mass layoffs. This comes as new tariffs are set to come back into impact on August 7, and as US tariffs on India have been set greater than on over 50 international locations, together with Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“We request rapid authorities intervention to offset this big setback. Exporters have their again in opposition to the wall and must promote under value to maintain their factories working and keep away from mass layoffs,” Sudhir Sekhri, Chairman, Attire Export Promotion Council (AEPC), mentioned in an announcement.
The US is a key marketplace for Indian Prepared-Made Clothes (RMG) exports, with India holding a 33 per cent share within the nation’s whole garment exports in 2024, AEPC mentioned. India’s presence within the US garment import market has grown, with its share growing from 4.5 per cent in 2020 to five.8 per cent in 2024, and it ranks fourth among the many prime RMG exporters to america, it mentioned.
“High three most exported merchandise by India to US: Cotton T-shirts (9.71 per cent); ladies’s or ladies’ attire of cotton (6.52 per cent); infants’ clothes of cotton (5.46 per cent), and many others. The highest three exports of India to the USA maintain 10, 36, and 20 per cent share, respectively, within the US whole imports of those merchandise globally,” AEPC mentioned.
China continues to be the highest exporter, with a market share of 21.9 per cent in 2024, down from 27.4 per cent in 2020. Collectively, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh equipped 49 per cent of US attire imports in 2024. Notably, whereas tariffs on China proceed to be 30 per cent, US tariffs on Vietnam and Bangladesh have been set at 20 per cent.
The US is India’s largest export marketplace for the labour-intensive Indian textile and attire business, as India exported $10.91 billion price of merchandise below the class in FY25. A steep 25 per cent tariff would depart Indian merchandise uncompetitive in comparison with these from Bangladesh.
Textiles have been a key development driver within the US market, as a Morgan Stanley evaluation mentioned that India’s bilateral items commerce surplus with the US has doubled over the past 10 years, rising from $20 billion in FY15 to $40 billion in FY25. “This enhance has been primarily pushed by greater surpluses in sectors like electronics, pharmaceutical merchandise and textiles,” the report mentioned.
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The India-US commerce deal is caught over delicate sectors reminiscent of agriculture and cars. The Indian Specific had reported final week that India is unlikely to conform to US calls for in the course of the ongoing commerce negotiations to just accept genetically modified (GM) agricultural merchandise reminiscent of corn and soya.
This assumes significance as agriculture stays one of many contentious points between the 2 international locations, and america Commerce Consultant (USTR) has beforehand flagged restrictions on its GM merchandise by international locations as discriminatory.
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