New Delhi: As the US tariffs come into play, the biggest concern in India is for the textile sector. Government statistics show that the Indian textile and apparel market was valued at around $222 billion in 2024, and projections suggest it could reach $350 billion by 2030.
The US is the largest market for the textile industry—which employs approximately 45 million people, an employment figure second only to agriculture—making up 33% of India’s total exports. People in the trade warn that mass layoffs should be expected should the US tariffs take hold.
Statement Of Sudhir Sekhri, Chairman Of AEPC
“We request immediate government intervention to offset this huge setback. Exporters have their back against the wall and will have to sell below cost to keep their factories running and avoid mass layoffs,” Sudhir Sekhri, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), said in a statement.
Union Textile Minister Giriraj Singh held a meeting with people from the industry on Wednesday. While the minister did not comment publicly, officials in the textile ministry stated that India was looking at the recently inked India-UK FTA to sell more Indian apparel to the UK. This will be made easier by the fact that duty tariffs have been slashed from 10-12% to zero, putting Indian textiles on par with Bangladesh and Pakistan. Also, on the anvil is increasing market share in Japan. Singh visited Japan last month, where he held talks with senior people in the Japanese textile industry. Japan’s investment in Indian textiles is a small but growing market.
People in the trade concede that these measures will not help India in the short term unless a deal is struck with the US soon. In a recent study conducted by the global NGO Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, around 100,000-200,000 jobs could be lost if the US tariffs continue. “Textiles is a labor-intensive sector, and there are worries of job losses if the market shrinks. If exports contract 10-20% due to loss of orders, it can threaten 100,000–200,000 textile and garment jobs collectively in the three hubs — Tiruppur, Karur and Coimbatore — over the next few months,” the study says.
While India does face challenges, some trade economists believe that with some smart planning, New Delhi could gain leverage with the US. Dr Arpita Mukherjee, a professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a Delhi-based think tank, says Trump’s tactics of imposing high tariffs as a stick to strike a trade deal will fail with India. She, however, also advised patience.
“A U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) team is scheduled to visit India on August 25th for the next round of talks” pointed out Mukherjee. It is here that the final position of the US will be known. On the textile industry, she said New Delhi needed to play it smart. “We should look at targeted support for measures that improve their competitiveness. So we should look at putting a subsidy on the service route (like logistics, manufacturing) rather than a subsidy on the finished product, which violates WTO rules.”
Mukherjee said that New Delhi needed to bear in mind the American market. “Just as the Indian market needs America, the American market needs Indian goods. We need to stretch out talks till the American festive season from November to December. This is when the US will be most eager to negotiate, as goods shortages and price hikes will directly be felt by the US consumer.”
