The Textile and Apparel (T&A) industry in India is a major contributor to the GDP, exports, employment and foreign exchange earnings. It contributes about 14% to the industrial production, 4% to the GDP and 17% to the country’s export earnings. It is also the second largest provider of employment after agriculture, providing direct employment to over 35 million people.

The domestic size of the Indian T&A industry was about US$ 33 billion in 2008. It is projected to grow at an annual growth rate of around 10% to reach US$ 47 billion by 2012. Additionally, T&A exports were US$ 22 billion in 2008 and are estimated to reach US$ 36 billion by 2012 at an annual growth rate of 13%.

India’s current domestic consumption is expected to grow to US $200 billion by 2025.  One of the major problem is the lack of supply to meet this demand. The current manufacturing capacities cannot meet this unprecedented growth in the demand and we may need huge foreign investments in this area. India needs huge investments of more than US $100 billion in the area of textile and apparel manufacturing. However, if this is not met, then probably the domestic demand will be met by the imports.