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apparel
The recent Economic Survey 2016-17 of the ministry of finance analyses the growth
of the apparel sector, and reveals that there is ample scope for development. The
Indian apparel industry can grow considering that China is losing ground due to
various factors including a rise in labour wages. However, there are certain factors
that are hindering the growth of the sector, which need to be tackled to ensure its
unprecedented growth. A Market Intelligence-Fibre2Fashion report.
The Economic Survey, the flagship annual document of the ministry of finance,
represents the annual economic performance of the Indian economy. It is presented
every year in Parliament by the ministry a day before the presentation of the Union
Budget. It reviews the performance of key development programmes the policy
initiatives of the government, and forecasts the effect of different government
initiatives from short term to long term.
Last year, two major decisions had been taken by the Indian government-the
implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation of currency
notes in the denominations of Rs500 and Rs1,000. These actions led to a temporary
decline in the growth trend, but will help boost the growth of the Indian economy,
according to the Survey.
The apparel sector is growing in India as people are more concerned about their
lifestyle and thus, the demand for branded and quality clothes across the country as
well as across the globe has gone up. During 2015-16, the apparel sector contributed
42 per cent of the total share in textiles and apparel exports of India. The apparel
sector has a huge potential for employment generation especially for women.
The apparel sector is the second largest labour intensive sector after footwear. It is
dominated by female workers, driving the cause of women empowerment. Women
empowerment leads to the development of the country with the growth of the
apparel sector.
Opportunities and challenges
The current and expected global market conditions are ideal for growth of the Indian
apparel sector as China is losing market share. Because labour wages have been
increasing in China, the country's stability in the global market has been affected.
Table 1: Minimum wages of workers for apparel sector