T-shirts account for 40% of India’s knitwear exports

COIMBATORE: T-shirts make up 40% of India’s total knitwear exports, with overall knitwear shipments valued at nearly ₹37,300 crore in the last financial year, even as global headwinds kept growth muted.

Despite multiple challenges in international markets, India’s knitwear exports stood at around ₹37,300 crore in FY25, while total T-shirt exports alone crossed ₹20,000 crore, underscoring the category’s dominance in the segment.

Product-wise export values during the year included children’s wear at ₹6,696 crore, nightwear and pyjamas at ₹2,727 crore, shirts at ₹2,718 crore, cotton yarn blended jersey garments at ₹2,077 crore and cotton nightwear at ₹1,917 crore. Within T-shirts, non-cotton T-shirts were exported to the tune of ₹3,933 crore, cotton T-shirts ₹15,975 crore, and synthetic fibre T-shirts ₹1,296 crore.

Indian Texpreneurs Federation convener Prabhu Dhamodharan said India exported close to 100 crore units of T-shirts during the last financial year. He added that T-shirts and children’s wear together contribute around 40% of the country’s total knitwear exports.

He said duty-free trade agreements could lift exports of these categories by about 10% in the first year of implementation.

However, he flagged that the average export realisation for such products remains low, calling for a sharper focus on value-added garment manufacturing to improve earnings.

Prabhu noted that after the trade agreement announcement with the UK, inquiries for new varieties of value-added apparel from the British market have increased.

He said the development has heightened the need to accelerate production capabilities for higher-value garments to capture emerging fashion trends.