The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) warmly
welcomes the announcement of the Resilience & Logistics
Intervention for Export Facilitation (RELIEF) scheme under
the Export Promotion Mission to alleviate the challenges faced
by exporters due to the ongoing turbulence in West Asia.“The
announcement is a strong manifestation of the Government’s
deep commitment to improving the ease of doing business
for Indian exporters,” CITI Chairman Shri Ashwin Chandran
said.“Amid the continuing global volatility exacerbated by the
developments in West Asia, the RELIEF scheme will offer a
dose of relief to the MSME-dominated textiles and apparel sec
tor, for whom FY26 has already proved to be hugely challeng
ing,” the CITI Chairman added.
Shri Chandran said that CITI remains hopeful that the package
announced under RELIEF will be implemented quickly to
benefit exporters in the textiles and apparel arena. A significant
portion of India’s textile and apparel exports is headed towards
West Asia. The UAE is one of the largest markets for Indian
textile and apparel exporters in West Asia. In 2024, the UAE
was the 4th-largest market for India’s textile and apparel
exports, after the US, the EU, and Bangladesh.
The developments in West Asia have compounded difficulties
for textiles and apparel exporters since they operate under
narrow margins. Any increase in the cost of logistics and
insurance adds to their challenges by significantly raising
operating costs and affecting their ability to meet contractual
obligations.The textiles and apparel sector is the second-largest
employer in India and a major contributor to national GDP and
exports. Textiles and apparel exports were severely impacted in
the second half of 2025 due to the steep 50% US tariff on Indian
goods, which was in place from late August 2025 to early
February 2026.As per a CITI Analysis, India’s textiles exports
declined 0.31% in February 2026 compared to the same period
last year. Apparel exports fell 8.60% during the same period.