India’s Ministry of Textiles has formally moved from export dependence to export architecture. The newly articulated 40-country market diversification strategy is not a routine trade push; it is a response to structural shifts in global textiles driven by tariffs, geopolitics, sustainability regulation, and supply-chain reconfiguration.
- Why diversification is now unavoidable
India’s textile exports have remained broadly stable despite global turbulence, but stability masks concentration risk.
- Heavy exposure to the US and EU
- Rising tariff uncertainty
- Increasing non-tariff barriers (sustainability, traceability, CBAM-style rules)
The 40-country strategy directly addresses this by:
- Identifying high-potential non-traditional markets
- Activating Indian Missions, EPCs, and industry delegations as coordinated export enablers
- Moving beyond opportunistic exports to structured market entry
This is risk management, not expansion for its own sake.
- Industrial policy is now aligned end-to-end
What distinguishes this phase is policy coherence. The export strategy is backed by a full-stack industrial toolkit:
Infrastructure & scale
- PM MITRA Parks → world-class, plug-and-play textile ecosystems
- Designed to attract both domestic and foreign anchor investors
Manufacturing competitiveness
- PLI for MMF Apparel, Fabrics & Technical Textiles
- Clear signal: India is pivoting beyond cotton-heavy, low-margin segments
Technology & future materials
- National Technical Textiles Mission
- R&D, market development, and skilling aligned with global demand (medical, industrial, geotech, defence)
Human capital
- SAMARTH for large-scale workforce upskilling
- Critical as India moves from CM → FOB → ODM
- Cost competitiveness: short-term relief, long-term logic
The government has paired structural reform with immediate cost relief:
- Duty-free cotton imports until Dec 31, 2025
- Stabilises raw material costs
- Protects spinning and downstream exporters
- GST rationalisation across the value chain
- Removes cascading tax inefficiencies
- RoSCTL & RoDTEP
- Over 15,000 exporters benefited in FY 2024-25
- WTO-compliant zero-rating of exports
This combination keeps Indian exporters afloat while structural upgrades take effect.
- FTAs as a competitiveness lever-not a headline
India’s 15 FTAs, including the India-UK CETA, are being positioned correctly: not as announcements, but as cost-of-entry reducers.
- Lower tariffs
- Simplified procedures
- Addressing rules-of-origin bottlenecks
For apparel and home textiles, FTAs are increasingly the difference between margin and exclusion.
- Export performance: resilience, not complacency
- FY 2024-25 exports: USD 37.76 billion (+5.2%)
- Apr–Oct 2025: USD 20.4 billion (-1.8%)
In a year marked by tariff shocks, weak global demand, and logistics disruptions, this reflects structural resilience rather than stagnation.
The message from government is clear: holding ground is not enough; repositioning is underway.
Strategic implications for industry
For exporters
- Market diversification will increasingly be policy-supported, not left to individual firms
- MMF, technical textiles, and value-added segments will receive disproportionate support
For investors
- PM MITRA + PLI creates rare alignment of land, infrastructure, incentives, and scale
- India is positioning itself as a China+1+Value destination, not just China+1
For brands & buyers
- India is preparing for:
- Traceability
- Sustainability compliance
- ODM-level capability
- Supplier selection will shift from price-only to system capability
Bottom line
India is no longer treating exports as a volume game.
It is building a diversified, policy-backed, value-oriented textile export system.
The success of the 40-country strategy will depend not on announcements, but on execution. However, the architecture is now in place-and it is materially stronger than in any previous cycle.
