HANGING BY A THREAD

50% US tariffs put Indian textile exporters in survival mode

- Rohini Mohan

To ride out the crisis, companies like Raft Garments have shrunk operations. Of 250 employees, only 84 were at work when The Straits Times visited. Blue plastic sheets covering sewing machines not in use at Raft Garment's factory in Tiruppur, where only five of the 15 lines were in operation.

Indian textile businessman R.K. Siva Subramaniam is used to what he calls cycles of tension. But he is at a loss about how to emerge from the crisis triggered by US President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods.

The US is the largest export market for India's US$179 billion (S$234 billion) textile and apparel industry, whose export earnings in 2024 totalled US$37 billion. But that market is shrinking fast.

"Our Indian government asks us to find new markets to export to instead of the US. Textiles are not vegetables - it's not easy to just go here, go there. It will take six months to a few years to find importers in other markets, and even then, purchase orders are unlikely to be in American quantities," said Mr Siva, 50.

Since Aug 27, when Mr Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on goods imported from India - including a 25 per cent penalty for buying Russian oil - apparel exports have dropped, by 10.34 per cent in September and a further 12.91 per cent in October.

Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu contributes 68 per cent of India's knitwear exports, and 35 per cent of Tiruppur's output goes to the US, with shipments totalling 15 billion rupees (S$221 million) a month.

The Tiruppur textile hub has 2,500 companies and around 20,000 small and medium-sized ancillary units like carton box makers, polybag manufacturers and transporters. About 800,000 people work in the textile trade in Tiruppur.