Gujarat's garment export share to rise three times: FIEO

With new textile policy in place, Gujarat is set to see robust growth in garment exports in the next five years, informed top officials of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

Gujarat, which currently has around 5 per cent share in the country's total garment exports, will see its share growing by three times to around 15 per cent over the next five years, claimed FIEO.

"The advantage to the garment makers is the availability of raw material and infrastructure in Gujarat. This will attract spinning units and garment makers to Gujarat. The policy boost will substantially increase garment exports from here," said Ajay Sahai, director general & CEO, FIEO - a trade body set up by ministry of commerce, Government of India. "There are tax incentives in the new textile policy of state government that will give advantage to domestic players over Chinese competitors. We expect Gujarat's share in country's total garment export to increase from current 5 per cent to over 15 per cent in the next three years," said Sahai.

According to data provided by FIEO, Gujarat has recorded merchandise exports worth US $ 75 billion (approx Rs 405,000 crore) annually, against which India's overall merchandise export is valued at US $ 300 billion. "India's exports are expected to touch US $ 1200 billion (approx. Rs 64,80,000 crore) by 2020, nearly four times of the current value. This will be driven by the growth in exports of finished products in the sectors like pharma, food processing, engineering and garments," said Rafeeque Ahmed, president, FIEO.

According to him, Gujarat's merchandise exports would cross US $ 400 billion by 2020.