India’s textile and apparel exports have maintained steady growth momentum despite a challenging global trade environment, underlining the sector’s resilience, adaptability and expanding global footprint. Supported by market diversification, value addition and targeted policy interventions, the sector recorded positive growth for the second consecutive month in December 2025.
Textile and apparel exports rose by 0.40 percent in December 2025 to USD 3.27 billion compared to December 2024, following a strong performance in November. Growth during the month was broad based across key segments, led by handicrafts with an increase of 7.2 percent, ready made garments at 2.89 percent, and man made fibre yarns, fabrics and made ups at 3.99 percent. The performance highlights India’s competitive strength in value added manufacturing, traditional crafts and labour intensive segments amid volatile global demand.
On a calendar year basis from January to December 2025, textile and apparel exports remained stable at USD 37.54 billion. Within this, cumulative growth was recorded in handicrafts at 17.5 percent, ready made garments at 3.5 percent and jute products at 3.5 percent. Maintaining export stability at this scale despite geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressures in major global markets reflects the structural strength of the sector and the diversity of India’s export basket.
Market diversification emerged as a key highlight of 2025. During January to November 2025, India’s textile exports expanded across 118 countries and export destinations compared to the corresponding period in 2024. Strong growth was observed in both emerging and traditional markets, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Poland, Sudan, Japan, Nigeria, Argentina, Cameroon and Uganda. Steady gains were also recorded across major European markets such as Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
This broad based expansion across geographies underscores the growing resilience of India’s textile export sector and the strengthening of its global market presence. The sustained performance is being reinforced by a coherent policy framework focused on enhancing competitiveness, encouraging value addition and widening market access.
With continued emphasis on diversification, integration of MSMEs and strengthening of value added segments, India’s textile and apparel sector is well positioned to scale up exports further and deepen its integration with global value chains in the coming period, reaffirming its status as a reliable and resilient global sourcing hub.
