'Apparel exports set to expand further, ROSL key driver'

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Saurabh Gupta | 13 Jun, 2017
Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), the apex council for the garment exports in India, has conducted a survey to find the catalyst for the exceptional differentiated export growth of 31.7 percent in April, 2017 and were flooded with data about the huge impact of the Rebate of State Levies (ROSL) scheme on the performance of the industry.

The industry is very upbeat and believes that over a period of three years they can consistently increase exports, it said in a release on Monday.

According to the survey done by AEPC in 8 states where there is significant apparel production; 85 percent of apparel exporters were substantially benefited by ROSL in their export performance, while 65 percent rate the impact of ROSL as high or game changing.

The industry also believes that given the ROSL impact in such a short span of time, they can over a period of three years consistently increase their capacity. 61 percent of industry respondents believe that they can deliver growth above 15-20 percent. With as many as 6 percent believe more than 30 percent is possible.

Further, 64 percent of the respondents are of opinion that continued ROSL support will help them expand their factories. The respondents are also of opinion that expansion of factories will also lead to higher rate of employment (67 percent), better work environment (73 percent) and better prices for farmers (50 percent).

Moreover, 77 percent exporters are of the view that ROSL can be continued in its existing form.

Commenting on the findings of the survey, Chairman AEPC, Mr Ashok G Rajani, said, “AEPC has been reiterating the importance of ROSL for the industry. ROSL has helped industry deliver phenomenal growth for the sector. ROSL since its announcement in last June added a positive sentiment amongst exporters and roll-out in September last year helped lifting the falling apparel exports. Since then the growth has been on an upward trajectory peaking in April this year.”

India's apparel export registered momentous growth of 31.7 percent in April 2017 compared to same period last year. The data of the apparel exports shows that after the commencement of disbursement of ROSL, the apparel sector has been registering double digit growth.

During March-April, 2017, Indian garment exporters were able to increase production by around 30 percent for achieving this growth and employed at least 5 percent more workers during the same period, it said.