Textile and clothing sector exports have increased marginally to USD 39.2 billion in 2017-18 from USD 39 billion in the previous fiscal, Parliament was informed today.
On the other hand India's imports of textile and apparel have increased by 17 per cent from USD 6.3 billion in 2016-17 to USD 7.3 billion in 2017-18, Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
He said that government has increased customs duty on different types of fabric, apparel, made-ups and carpets from 10 per cent to 20 per cent to curb textile and apparel imports in the country.
In a separate reply, he said that the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) has estimated the cotton production for the current cotton season 2017-18 (October 2017 to September 2018) at 370 lakh bales.
"From October 2017 to April 2018, the total amount of cotton exported from India was 51.21 lakh bales," he said adding CAB has estimated that during the current cotton season 2017-18, the export of cotton is likely to increase by 20 per cent over last year and is expected to touch 70 lakh bales by September this year.
"Domestic prices of cotton are ruling below the international cotton prices," he added.