ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to bring together a historical overview of the Indian textile industry, key agreements and policies, contribution of the textile industry in the economic development, and major challenges faced by the textile and clothing industry. The findings of this chapter indicate that the Multi-Fiber Agreement (MFA) and Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC) are the key agreements and various textile policies such as Textile policy, 1985; National Textile Policy (NTP), 2000, 2013 have presented massive opportunities for the industry to add to its contribution in global trade with a framework of helpful guiding principle over the years. Such policies have played a major role in the export earnings and offer job opportunities to the skilled and unskilled workers. The textile and clothing industry occupies a significant position in the Indian economy in terms of industrial production, employment, and exports. It can also be noted that the share of the Indian textile and clothing industry, in spite of being the largest foreign-exchange earning sector, in global textile and clothing exports is still relatively low as compared to other Asian countries such as Singapore, China, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
