TCF POST Analysis
India’s textile export performance strengthened significantly in August 2026, but the recovery remained uneven across the textile-apparel chain. Textile exports increased strongly from a year earlier, while apparel exports contracted, leaving cumulative textile and apparel exports for April-August 2026 marginally below the corresponding period of 2025. At the same time, India’s overall merchandise exports grew substantially faster than the textile sector in August.
Textile exports accelerate in August
According to India’s Ministry of Textiles, textile exports rose 16.1% year on year in August 2026 to Rs297.76 billion (about US$3.1 billion). This compares with an estimated Rs256.47 billion in August 2025, calculated from the Ministry’s reported 16.1% annual growth.
The textile sector therefore added roughly Rs41.3 billion in export value over the year. However, its growth still trailed the broader merchandise-export performance of the Indian economy.
India’s merchandise exports increased 26.1% YoY in August 2026 to Rs4.13 trillion (US$43.8 billion), compared with 19.6% growth in July. On the same basis, August 2025 merchandise exports were approximately US$34.7 billion, implying an annual increase of about US$9.1 billion in August 2026.
The gap is significant: the Ministry’s textile-export growth of 16.1% was about 10 percentage points below India’s overall merchandise-export growth of 26.1%. Textile exports nevertheless represented about 7.1% of India’s total merchandise exports in August 2026, based on the values reported in the source.
April-August: textiles outperform apparel
The cumulative picture is more complex. The Ministry of Textiles reported that textile exports reached Rs1.43 trillion (approximately US$14.9 billion) during April-August 2026, up 10.3% YoY. Within this series, cotton textiles increased 18%, synthetic fibre products 13.6%, carpets 11.9%, and hand-woven products 44%.
Confederation of Indian Textile Industries- CITI’s dollar-denominated analysis presents a more moderate textile increase but clearly shows a widening divide between textiles and apparel. CITI reported that, in April-August 2025, textile exports rose only 0.02%, reaching US$8.348 billion, while apparel exports increased 5.78% to US$6.766 billion. Combined textile and apparel exports rose 2.52% to US$15.114 billion from US$14.743 billion a year earlier.
For April-August 2026, CITI reported textile exports up 6.94% in dollar terms, while apparel exports fell 9.10%. Combined textile and apparel exports consequently declined 0.24% YoY. Applying those growth rates to the 2025 values gives approximately US$8.93 billion for textiles, US$6.15 billion for apparel and US$15.08 billion for the combined sector.
That represents a rise of roughly US$579 million in textile exports, offset by a fall of about US$616 million in apparel exports. The net result was a decline of approximately US$36 million in combined textile and apparel exports compared with April-August 2025.
The composition of exports also shifted. Textiles accounted for about 55.2% of the combined textile-apparel total in April-August 2025; on the calculated 2026 figures, their share increased to roughly 59.2%. Apparel’s share correspondingly declined from about 44.8% to 40.8%.
August reveals the same divergence
CITI’s August data reinforce the contrast. In dollar terms, textile exports rose 13.03% YoY in August 2026, while apparel exports declined 2.74%. Combined textile and apparel exports nevertheless increased 6.39%.
This means the textile side of the industry was generating positive momentum, but not enough to offset the weaker apparel performance fully. CITI described the trend as evidence of resilience in textiles alongside a need for renewed momentum in apparel.
There is, however, an important statistical distinction within the source. The Ministry of Textiles reports 16.1% growth in August textile exports and 10.3% growth for April-August, whereas CITI reports 13.03% and 6.94%, respectively, in US-dollar terms. The source does not explain the difference, so the two series should not be mathematically combined or treated as identical measures.
Textiles still trail the wider export economy
India’s overall export performance provides a broader benchmark. Merchandise exports rose 26.1% in August 2026, supported by stronger core exports, oil, agricultural products and shipments to several major markets. Exports to the United States increased 21.8% YoY, while shipments to Malaysia, Singapore and Japan also gained momentum.
Against that backdrop, textile growth of 13.03%-16.1% in August, depending on the source series, was considerably slower than total merchandise-export growth. The contrast is sharper for the combined textile-apparel industry, whose CITI growth of 6.39% was nearly 20 percentage points below the overall export increase.
The cumulative textile-apparel result is weaker still: April-August 2026 exports were down 0.24%, despite textile growth, because apparel exports contracted 9.10%.
The source does not provide India’s total merchandise exports for the full April-August 2026 period, so a direct five-month comparison between textile-apparel exports and total merchandise exports cannot be established from the supplied data.
Sector recovery remains uneven
The 2026 figures point to a two-speed export story within India’s textile-apparel industry. Textile categories are showing stronger traction, supported by cotton products, synthetic fibre products, carpets and hand-woven goods. Apparel, however, has moved in the opposite direction, with cumulative exports falling sharply in dollar terms.
The Ministry of Textiles attributed the positive textile trend to increased industry competitiveness, wider overseas-market access, government support and the development of higher-value products.
For the industry as a whole, the central issue is therefore not simply whether Indian textile exports are growing, but whether the stronger textile performance can translate into renewed apparel growth. August provided evidence of momentum on the textile side, yet the April-August figures show that apparel weakness continues to weigh on the sector’s overall export performance.
