India’s textile and apparel industry had a total market size of US$ 165 billion in 2022-23, with the domestic segment contributing US$ 125 billion (76%) and exports accounting for US$ 40 billion. That split matters: the domestic market is projected to reach US$ 250 billion by 2030-31 at a 10% CAGR, while export revenues are expected to double to US$ 100 billion in the same period. Both trajectories are credible, but they are being built on structurally uneven foundations.
The Export Paradox
India held a 5% share in global textile and apparel trade in 2021, ranking third globally with total exports of US$ 41.5 billion. Within that, India was the world’s largest exporter of natural spun yarn (24% global share) and ranked second in home textiles (12% share). Yet in apparel, it ranked 8th globally with only a 3% share, trailing China (33%), Bangladesh (8%), and Vietnam (6%).
This divergence reflects a structural bias: India’s export competitiveness is concentrated in fibre and yarn, not in finished garments. Apparel, which forms 37% of India’s total T&A export basket, has stagnated, with garment exports declining at a 1% CAGR between 2015-16 and 2021-22. Made-ups, by contrast, grew at 6% CAGR in the same period to cross US$ 9 billion, suggesting that categories with strong cotton and home textiles heritage are performing better than apparel.
Domestic Demand: Where the Real Growth Is
Within India’s US$ 125 billion domestic market, apparel commands the largest share at US$ 92 billion (74%), followed by technical textiles at US$ 24 billion (20%) and home textiles at US$ 9 billion. The domestic market has expanded from US$ 50 billion in 2010-11 to US$ 110 billion in 2021-22, a 7% CAGR, with acceleration expected as rising incomes and organised retail expand consumption in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Technical textiles stand out as the fastest-evolving segment. India’s exports in this category reached US$ 3 billion in 2021-22 (6% CAGR since 2010-11), while imports also grew to US$ 2 billion, signalling both global competitiveness and a domestic demand gap that domestic manufacturers are beginning to address.
Supply Chain Signals
On the production side, manmade filament yarn (MMFY) output grew at 9.2% CAGR between 2019-20 and 2021-22, compared to 1.6% for spun yarn. Knitted fabric exports grew at 23% CAGR since 2015-16, though from a smaller base, while synthetic woven fabric exports declined at 5% CAGR. These contrasting trends in the supply chain mirror the global shift in sourcing demand toward performance fabrics and casualwear-linked categories.
PLI scheme approvals (64 projects in the MMF value chain, cumulative investment of US$ 2.5 billion) and FTA signings with UAE and Australia in 2022 indicate that the policy environment is orienting toward filling exactly these gaps.
The full report covers category-level export and import data across fibre, yarn, fabric, garments, and technical textiles for 2010-11 through 2022-23, with projections to 2030-31, alongside a ranked overview of India’s top 55 listed textile companies by 2021-22 revenues.
