India : Apparel Exports Rise Due to SARS

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has indicated that the dreadful phenomenon of SARS has had an unexpected affect of diverting trade to the domestic apparel industry. It has estimated that nearly $8 billion worth of orders have been diverted to India as a result of this dreaded disease affecting countries in other parts of Asia.

As a result, with India having been declared SARS-free by WHO, the AEPC hopes to woo more foreign buyers in the spring-summer edition of the India International Garment Fair 2003. According to AEPC Director, Vijay Mathur, the premium autumn orders for apparel usually made in May and June will definitely be made in India as these are made on a huge scale and buyers lose out on business if delayed.

The AEPC has found that Far East and Southeast Asian countries have been regularly losing foreign buyers who are outsourcing requirements from India. At the same time, exports from countries such as China are now as high as $50 billion annually in apparel alone. For the last two months, however, there had been negligible flow of buyers into that country because of the SARS scare.

The AEPC is a nodal agency sponsored by the Textiles Ministry and is entrusted with the dual responsibility of monitoring garment export quotas and promotion of exports of readymade garments.