Textile and apparel, which are among the top merchandise export products, saw 2 % y-o-y decline in shipments in 2025-2026 compared with the previous year. The exports in 2025-2026 was worth $35.80 billion as against $ 36.61 billion in 2024-2025.

The Union Commerce Ministry data points to 1.78 % CAGR of textile and apparel exports from 2014-2015 ($29.47 billion) to FY 26. It peaked to $37.54 billion in 2021-2022. And the growth falling 2 % last financial year.

According to data compiled by the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) based on the government statistics, exports were $ 37 billion in 2014-2015, crossed $40 billion in 2021-2022, fell to $36.44 billion in 2024-2025 and closed FY 26 at $35.78 billion.

There are multiple factors that are affecting exports in the last 12 years and mainly in the last two years, say industry sources.

“We need to take into consideration the exchange rate in 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. The rupee was at 86.60 on April 2, 2025 and ended 2025-2026 at 94.83 on March 31 this year,” said an export promotion council official, who did not want to be identified.

“When the U.S. orders fell in 2025-2026, demand from China, Bangladesh and Sri Lank improved. There was a regional balance to some extent. In terms of volume, exports may have grown marginally between 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 though there were severe supply chain disruptions,” said Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council.

“Though exports to Africa shot up for a few months last fiscal, it was one of the most uncertain periods for the textile and garment exporters,” said K. Sakthivel, chairman of the Powerloom Development Export Promotion Council. “We are in Japan now and talking to buyers. We will get a better picture in the coming days,” he said.

Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council A. Sakthivel said that though orders from the US, which is among the top three markets for Indian exporters, saw several challenges in 2025-2026 because of the tariff threat, “The buyers did not go away totally. Some of them reduced the prices, some of them shifted part of the orders, and some waited. So, there were still orders going to the US last year. Now, the suppliers are expecting to get tariff refunds at least to some extent,” he said.

The Council plans to order buyer-seller meets from September in the EU countries to tap the opportunities that will come with the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement, he added.

Regarding long-term export performance, the industry officials say that when the rupee was about 65 in 2014-2015, the annual textile and garment exports then were almost $30 billion, going by the Commerce Ministry statistics. With the Indian rupee at almost 95 in 2025-2026, the exports are at $35 billion. Basically, exports are not growing and apparel shipments have seen major impact, especially in the last couple of years. This is felt more by the MSME exporters, they said.

There are some in the industry who feel that in terms of volume of exports between 2014-2015 and 2025-2026, there could have been a one-third drop.

Indian Chamber of Commerce, National Expert Committee on Textiles head Sanjay K Jain said that apparel export degrowth in May (12.98 %) is partly due to west Asia slowing down and also because of the higher base of 2024-2025 because of the rush in orders to meet the tariff deadline.

The industry is hoping for a revival of the market in the coming weeks with the FTAs and end of the U.S.-Iran war.