Indian textile and apparel companies are optimistic about future growth driven by global sourcing shifts and trade agreements, yet remain sceptical about reaching the $100 billion export target by 2031, citing challenges in sustainability readiness and execution.
Indian textile and apparel companies are far more upbeat about the sector’s medium-term prospects than they are about the government’s $100 billion export ambition, according to a new sentiment survey presented at Bharat Tex 2026 in New Delhi. Wazir Advisors said its barometer, based on structured conversations with 102 senior industry participants, found 92% were optimistic about the next three to four years, with yarn and apparel makers the most positive. The survey suggests the optimism is being driven less by a short-lived cyclical bounce than by longer-term shifts in global sourcing, including diversification away from China.
That confidence, however, does not extend evenly to the export target. Wazir said only 42% of respondents believe India can reach $100 billion in textile and apparel exports by FY31, while 34% judged it unlikely. The scepticism is rooted in the maths: exports were about $36 billion in FY26, leaving the industry needing compound annual growth of roughly 23% a year for five years to hit the goal, even after last year’s growth remained below 2%.
Varun Vaid, executive director at Wazir Advisors, said the sector had rarely been “this confident and this unconvinced at the same time”. He argued that trade access is no longer the main bottleneck, pointing to free trade agreements already in place or on the way, but said the real test now is execution, from commissioning infrastructure to building traceability and reporting systems before European Union rules begin to bite. The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and Digital Product Passport requirements for textiles are due to take effect in 2027 and 2028, creating a narrow window for suppliers to adapt.
The survey also found that sentiment towards trade deals was especially strong. Wazir said 94% of respondents expect recent and upcoming free trade agreements to have a positive effect on their business, with the poll taken in the same week that the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement took effect on July 15. Industry expectations for the India-EU trade pact are also high, with the agreement widely seen as a potential lift for exports once operational. Investment plans are following that optimism: 77% of companies said they expect to raise investment over the next 12 to 18 months, and 80% said the current policy environment supports growth because of measures such as production-linked incentives, PM MITRA and better market access.
Yet sustainability readiness remains the clearest weakness in the industry’s self-assessment. Wazir said only 47% of respondents considered the sector well or fully prepared for changing global sustainability and compliance demands, while 17% said it was only slightly prepared. That gap matters because Brussels is increasingly treating environmental compliance as a condition of market access rather than a back-office reporting issue. On Wazir’s six-pillar scale, FTA advantage scored the highest, followed by industry outlook, policy support and investment appetite. Sustainability was much lower, and confidence in the $100 billion goal was the weakest reading of all.
The broader policy backdrop is one of ambition and acceleration. The Economic Times reported that India is leaning on sustainability, recycling and digital product passports as it tries to become a global textile powerhouse by 2030. At Bharat Tex 2026, the same event that produced Wazir’s survey, the industry also drew substantial commercial interest: the event generated business enquiries worth about $2.8 billion and attracted investment commitments of ₹14,300 crore, according to the Economic Times. That momentum has fed confidence that India can expand its role in global sourcing, but the Wazir survey suggests the next phase will be judged less by declarations of intent than by whether factories, logistics networks and compliance systems can keep pace.
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