The country's overall exports of textiles and clothing stood at USD 41.4 billion in 2014-15 but fell short of the target of USD 45 billion, according to the Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil).
Last year, the exports of textiles and clothing stood at USD 39.31 billion against the export target of USD 43 billion.
Exports of cotton textiles (excluding raw cotton) during 2014-15 was USD 9,452.96 million as against exports of USD 9,669.05 million in 2013-14, registering a negative growth of 2.23 per cent.
While, exports of cotton textiles (including raw cotton) touched USD 11,353.15 million as against exports of USD 13,306 million in 2013-14, registering a steep decline of 14.68 per cent, Texprocil said in a statement.
"These declining trends in exports are a matter of deep concern," Texprocil chairman R K Dalmia said here.
Exports in the current fiscal can do much better if adequate and timely support is provided by the government, he said, adding that growth of over 15 per cent can be achieved as India has got the required competitiveness in textiles.
Dalmia sought urgent action in areas like inclusion of cotton textiles under the 3 per cent Interest Rate Subvention Scheme, release of funds under the TUF scheme, and recalibrating the product/country matrix under the newly-introduced Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) which have a direct bearing in improving the country's competitiveness in the short to medium term.
Apart from these measures, much needs to be done towards achieving the objective of "ease of doing business" and "Simplification of procedures," he said.
He added that despite repeated representations exporters are yet to receive 2 per cent additional duty credit scrips under the MLFPS (Market Linked Focus Product Scheme) which was announced in February 2014.
The government has also curtailed the benefits under the Incremental Export Incentivization Scheme (2013-14) to a maximum Rs 20 lakh which was not there in the original scheme, he said.
The withdrawal of Focus Market Scheme for cotton yarns has caused steep decline in exports to non-conventional markets like Peru, Morocco etc, Dalmia said, adding that the delay in getting Duty Drawback amounts from JNPT Customs has further aggravated the situation for exporters.
