Garment exports from the Southern India knitwear hub of Tiruppur in February and March 2024 posted a rebound after facing shrinking demand for a long period of time.

Knitwear exports from Tiruppur increased 6.4 percent in February and 5.6 percent in March as against comparable months of the previous year.

As against this, overall clothing exports rose 4.8 percent in February and 1.7 percent in March over the similar months of 2023

“Tiruppur is expected to see almost 10 percent growth in exports in the coming months,” KM Subramanian, President of TEA observed.

“With India expected to sign a trade agreement with UK, Indian apparels will become more competitive and so, UK retailers are already looking for suppliers and booking factories in India,” he added.

“Small clothing retailers in Europe have exhausted their inventory and have restarted buying,” the Hindu quoted Kumar Duraisamy, Joint Secretary of TEA as saying.

Duraisamy further added that nearly 20 percent of MSME exporters in Tiruppur had shut down due to decrease in orders in the previous year.

“And so, existing Tiruppur garment factories are running at full capacity now and are also planning to expand capacity. However, there is almost 20 percent labour shortage in Tiruppur,” he stated