This book examines the textile and clothing Industry of India and its trade scenario from a
global perspective. New developments in international policies related to trade and investment
and falling barriers to trade worldwide as well as within individual regional communities have
transformed the structure of production and global competition in the textile and apparel
industries across the world. Furthermore with the incorporation of textile trade in the GATT
framework following the removal of quantitative restrictions and the subsequent liberalization
of investment opportunities the Indian market is now home to several international brands
which has led to the present upsurge of FDI in this very important sector of the Indian
economy. The book closely examines the nature and impact of such external changes on the
industry's structure and labour-related issues. The key feature of this book is that it
presents a snapshot of all the domestic and international policies related to this sector from
the earliest relevant period to the present and analyses the topical issues in significant
detail. The book also offers some empirical analyses to show the impact of external changes on
the concentration of firms in this industry and the regional inequalities that have emerged
from regional variations in firms' employment labour-income and profit levels. Further it
addresses another striking feature namely the role of preferential trading blocs or Regional
Trading Arrangements (RTA) in creating trade-diverting effects related to this sector apart
from the implications of foreign collaborations and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Many
economists fear that the benefits of these RTAs for the partner countries are much greater than
those for India with net gains of incremental exports from India being small or even negative.
This book discusses these critical issues in the context of India's textile and apparel trade.
