Textile and Apparel Industries

Indian Textile and Apparel Exports and COVID-19: Insights from International Trade Data

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Abstract

Exports have always been viewed as an engine of economic growth. Export competitiveness is a country's ability to compete globally with growing export capacity, diversifying export baskets, and upgrading export technology. Textile and apparel (T&A) is a critical export sector and an important contributor to India's economic growth. In 2021, India exported U.S.$16.5 billion (3.35% of the world share) worth of apparel and U.S.$18.11 billion (5.79% of the world share) worth of textiles (WTO, 2022). Covid-19 also exposed the vulnerabilities in the supply chain of Indian apparel and textile export firms. The Indian economy shrank by 7.5 percent in 2020 due to disruptions in the market (Schmall, 2020). This was even worse for the Indian apparel industry, which lost its labor force due to labor migration and lockdown and saw severe disruptions in its supply chain (Chaliawala, 2020). Competitiveness is particularly important for a country's performance in the tradable sector. The study uses monthly data from the United Nations Commodity Trade database (UNCTAD, 2022) and the WTO for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Product level trade data (HS code 50 to 67) from the United Nations Commodity Trade database for the 36 months (from January 2019 to December 2021) was used for this study. The RCA and NRCA indices suggest an advantage during the Covid-19 period in twelve HS codes.

Keywords: Exports, Competitiveness, Covid-19, India, RCA

How to Cite:

Das, D., (2022) “Indian Textile and Apparel Exports and COVID-19: Insights from International Trade Data”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.16025