CRISIL SME Tracker: For MSEs, men's apparel is where the money is

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in men’s readymade garment manufacturing have better financial metrics compared with their peers manufacturing women’s and kids’ garments, reveals a CRISIL SME Rating analysis of more than 100 rated MSEs in the sector.

CRISIL-rated MSEs in men’s apparel had an average operating profit margin of 9.8 per cent — a good 200 bps more compared with those in kids’ and women’s apparel, which logged 7.5 per cent and 6.9 per cent, respectively.

The trend also held in net profit margin, where these players logged 6.3 per cent, compared with 4.5 per cent for kids’ and 3.9 per