Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina moved from Bangladesh to India in the face of an unprecedented student coup on August 5 this year. Since then political instability is going on in the country. And this has benefited India's ready-made garments (RMG) industry. Along with this, there is a fear that Bangladesh's place in the global market of ready-made garments will be taken over by India.

A recent report by the US-based United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has made this fear even clearer. According to the report, India is gaining increasing credibility for ready-made garments. There, India's political stability was cited as an important factor attracting American buyers.

According to the USITC report, foreign brands are willing to import high value fashion items from India compared to politically stable countries. Because they are confident that India will be able to produce and export the goods.

The report compares India with other leading apparel exporters including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Cambodia. It is said that these countries, including Vietnam, have gained market share from China in the last decade. China's share of U.S. apparel imports fell significantly, from 37.7 percent in 2013 to 21.3 percent. India's share increased from 4 percent to 5.8 percent during the same period.

Meanwhile, India's garment exports to the US reached 4.6 billion last year. While the US is India's largest market for apparel exports, Vietnam has emerged as the biggest winner here. Vietnam increased its share in the US market from 10 percent to 17.8 percent.

Sudhir Sekhri, chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council (APC), an association of Indian ready-made garment exporters, said that India's ready-made garment (RMG) exports have recorded high growth despite various crises around the world and continued inflationary pressure. However, major apparel exporting countries have faced a slowdown in readymade garment exports in recent months.

APC Secretary General Mithileshwar Thakur welcomed the recognition of this strength of India. He said that the Indian textile and apparel industry has been suffering from negative perceptions for a long time. The USITC study debunks this myth.

Bangladesh is one of the top garment exporters in the world. Some factories in Bangladesh have been temporarily closed due to recent socio-political instability. According to a report, if socio-political instability in Bangladesh continues for more than one or two quarters of the year, exporters are likely to face challenges in ensuring timely delivery.

In such a situation, India can get additional monthly export orders of 200 to 250 million dollars. Due to the operational efficiency of the readymade garment sector, Indian exporters can permanently take over the global market share in this sector from Bangladesh.

To exploit the opportunity, Indian exporters plan to participate in various international fairs and organize Bharat Tex-2025, said APC Chairman Sudhir Sekhri. Bharat Tex is likely to be an important event for the India-made garment sector. The traders of this sector of the country have planned to organize this fair.