Indian Textile and Apparel Industry Statistics 2026: Exports, Jobs and Growth Data

Last updated: 15 October 2026. Compiled by Vikash, co-founder of Vee Threads, a hand-embroidery studio run by women artisans in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Every figure links to its official source. Free to cite with a link back to this page.

Quick answer: India exported textiles and apparel, including handicrafts, worth ₹3,25,339 crore in FY2025-26, up 1.8% on the year, according to a Ministry of Textiles reply in Parliament. The sector employs more than 45 million people directly and adds about 2% of GDP and 11% of manufacturing GVA. Ready-made garments are the biggest single export line.

Key highlights

• Exports grew from ₹2,97,004 crore in 2023-24 to ₹3,25,339 crore in 2025-26, a compound rate of 4.7% a year (Ministry of Textiles reply in the Lok Sabha, July 2026).
• In dollars, exports including handicrafts reached USD 37.8 billion in 2024-25, up 5%, with a trade surplus of USD 28.2 billion (PIB Year End Review 2025).
• India was the 6th largest textile and apparel exporter in 2024 with 4.1% of world trade, and the sector made up 8.63% of India's total exports (same source).
• January to December 2025 exports held at USD 37.54 billion, with handicrafts up 17.5% and ready-made garments up 3.5% (PIB, 16 January 2026).
• Textile and handicraft products were exported from more than 500 districts in 2025-26, to more than 100 countries.
• The official goal is ₹9 lakh crore of textile exports by 2030 (PIB Year End Review 2025).

Can India reach ₹9 lakh crore by 2030?

Not at the current pace. We ran the numbers.

Going from ₹3,25,339 crore to ₹9,00,000 crore in four years needs growth of about 29% every year. The real pace from FY24 to FY26 was 4.7%. Hold that 4.7% and exports land near ₹3.9 lakh crore in 2029-30, well under half the target.

So the target needs a new engine, and trade deals are the government's bet. The India-EFTA TEPA came into force on 1 October 2025, the India-UK CETA was signed in July 2025, the India-Oman CEPA in December 2025, and India-EU negotiations concluded on 27 January 2026 (PIB, 22 April 2026).

Our method: required rate = (900000 / 325339)^(1/4) minus 1 = 28.97%. Projection = 325339 x 1.047^4 = ₹3,90,960 crore.

What India exports: the FY2025-26 mix

Garments grew from ₹1,20,305 crore in FY24 to ₹1,39,350 crore in FY26. That line carries the sector. Handloom, the craft most people picture first, earns under half a percent of export value. A loom-woven sari can take days. The economics show it.

Jobs and the wider economy

Where Indian textiles go

The US bought ₹85,910 crore in FY2025-26. By our count that's 26.4% of everything India's textile sector exported, more than one rupee in four. Bangladesh, the UAE, the UK and Germany complete the top five.

That dependence got tested in 2025. US duties on many Indian goods reached 50% from 27 August 2025. On 6 February 2026 the US removed the extra 25% duty and announced an 18% reciprocal rate covering textiles, apparel and artisanal products (KPMG summary of the order). The rate has moved again since, so if you export, check your product code in the US International Trade Commission tariff schedule before quoting a buyer.

What this means for small makers

The fastest-growing line in 2025 wasn't garments. It was handicrafts, up 17.5%. We feel the same pull at our studio: buyers pay for work they can see was made by hand. Every Vee Threads piece is stitched by women artisans in Bulandshahr, and we've shipped over 5,000 orders that way.

Methodology and sources

We used Government of India releases and Parliament replies only. A PIB release on 22 April 2026 gave a provisional FY2025-26 figure of ₹3,16,334.9 crore; the Ministry's July 2026 reply to Parliament revised it to ₹3,25,339 crore, the number used here. Figures marked "our calculation" are Vee Threads arithmetic on official data.

• PIB: Textile exports register growth of 2.1% in FY2025-26 (22 April 2026)
• PIB: Year End Review 2025, Ministry of Textiles
• PIB: T&A exports maintain growth momentum (16 January 2026)
• Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 1295 (11 February 2025)
• Lok Sabha reply on FY2025-26 exports, reported 28 July 2026
• Category-wise FY2025-26 export values
• KPMG: US removes additional tariffs on India (February 2026)

Vee Threads (2026). Indian Textile and Apparel Industry Statistics 2026. https://veethreads.com/blogs/news/india-textile-apparel-industry-statistics

<a href="https://veethreads.com/blogs/news/india-textile-apparel-industry-statistics">Indian textile industry statistics (Vee Threads)</a>

More in our fashion data series: handloom and handicraft artisan statistics, global apparel export statistics, cotton production statistics and textile waste statistics.

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