Textiles

Ask most importers what India is good at in textiles and they'll say clothing. Their own customs records disagree. In 2025 India was the second-largest supplier of home textiles to the US, Australia and New Zealand, and third to the UK and the EU, while in knitted clothing it ranked fourth to sixth in every one of those markets (our analysis of UN Comtrade (opens in a new tab), Verified).

So the towels, sheets and cushion covers are where India already wins abroad, and apparel is where it's still trying to.

That gap is a good place to start, because "textiles" covers several businesses that share a fibre and not much else. This page maps the families, where each is made, how they reach your country and which border rules bite. It works for any sourcing country, but our data is Indian, so India leads. The country view, with the export councils and fairs, is on India's export industries, and carpets get their own page at carpets and floor coverings.

The Textile Families and Where Each Is Made

India's government keeps a list of Towns of Export Excellence, and for textiles it's the most honest map we've got, because it names the town and the product together (DGFT Appendix 1B, 2023 (opens in a new tab), Verified). Here's how the families line up against it -

Read the official category carefully, because it's often narrower than the town's reputation. Karur is listed for handlooms, not home textiles. And Surat, which every textile buyer has heard of, is listed for gems and jewellery, so its fabric trade lives in the Surat textile markets rather than on the export list.

Knitwear

This is India's most concentrated family. Tiruppur held 44.6% of named US sea shipments of knitted T-shirts in our count of US shipping records, and local press put the town's knitwear exports at ₹46,000 crore in FY2025-26, "nearly 60%" of India's total (Business Standard, Jun 2026 (opens in a new tab), Reported).

Step away from basic tees, though, and that grip loosens fast. In sweaters and sweatshirts Tiruppur held only 23.6% of named shipments, and in knitted babywear the largest named shipper was in Kerala. So "knitwear means Tiruppur" holds for cotton tees and gets shakier for everything else. The town itself is profiled on the Tiruppur knitwear cluster.

Woven Apparel

Shirts, blouses, dresses and trousers are spread across the NCR belt around Delhi and the western towns. Of the families we tracked, this one took the hardest hit from the 2025 US tariff spike. US sea shipments of women's woven blouses from India fell 73% between September 2025 and February 2026 against a year earlier, and they were still 19% down in March to August 2026 (US bill-of-lading records, our analysis, Verified counts).

Why should a UK or Australian buyer care? Because a drop that size means capacity that was busy with US orders a year ago is out looking for work now.

Home Textiles

This is bed, bath, table and kitchen linen, plus cushion covers and throws. India's position abroad is strong, as the opening showed, but the trade runs through different hands than you'd guess. Big vertical mills dominate the US side, and the classic towns sit in the unnamed half of the records or sell to other markets (Indicative).

One overlooked candidate turned up in shipping-record district pages, where Madurai's top exporters were mostly home-textile houses. If you buy small then the integrated mills may not want you, and a handloom or made-ups exporter in Karur or Madurai may well do. Quality follows the hands, too. A US buyer of Indian towels from an off-price chain complained of heavy lint after three washes (r/CleaningTips, 2023 (opens in a new tab)), and that's a spec and finishing issue you settle at the sample, not after the container lands.

Handloom

Handloom is a way of making cloth more than a product. It has its own export council and its own fairs, and it suits buyers who want short runs and texture over perfect uniformity. Lead times follow labour and the weather rather than machine hours, and a handwoven piece should be priced like one.

Jute

India is a leading jute country, but jute manufactures are a small export line, US$358 m in FY2025-26 and down 6.88% (quick estimates annexure (opens in a new tab), Verified).

There's a classification trap here as well. In US trade, the HS heading people expect for jute bags (6305) is dominated by polypropylene bulk-bag makers, while jute shopping and tote bags from Kolkata exporters ship under 4202, the luggage and handbag heading (our count of US shipping records, Indicative reading). Check the code with your broker before you compare duty, because the two headings carry different rates.

The Border Rules That Bite

The fibre is the same everywhere, and it's the border that changes your landed cost. These were the positions as of 5 October 2026, and every one of them is dated.

Australia

Indian textiles have entered at 0% since 1 January 2026 under the ECTA, but only with an ECTA certificate of origin for each shipment. Clothing also has to meet the mandatory care labelling standard (opens in a new tab). The rest is on importing from India into Australia.

New Zealand

Before the India FTA took effect on 20 October 2026 the ordinary rates applied, and they differed by family, 10% on cotton T-shirts and 5% on bed linen (NZ tariff, Verified in our gaps research). Since that date, check the certificate rules on the New Zealand page.

United Kingdom

The UK-India CETA took effect on 15 July 2026, and the lines we sampled for tees and bed linen show 0% with valid origin proof (UK Trade Tariff (opens in a new tab), Verified). A UK importer can claim on its own knowledge of origin, which is handy if you specify the fabric yourself. Details are on the UK page.

European Union

There's no FTA in force yet. Until there is, the GSP split in our third intelligence point decides your rate, so a sheet and a shirt from the same mill can land at different duties. Labels must list fibre names in the EU's set terms, and the importer is responsible when the maker sits outside the EU (Regulation 1007/2011 (opens in a new tab)). REACH also bans dyes that release listed amines above 30 mg/kg in skin-contact textiles. See the EU page.

United States

Most textiles pay the normal rate plus a 10% Section 301 duty that applies to India and many other countries. It changed twice in 2026, so check the current position with your customs broker before you price anything. Children's sleepwear has its own flammability standard, and it was behind 8 of the 45 US recalls of India-made products we counted (US CPSC, 2021 to Sep 2026). See the US page.

What Fails at the Border

Our count of product-safety records says Indian textiles rarely fail on chemistry. They fail on design. Of 27 EU Safety Gate alerts on Indian children's clothing, 22 were cords, drawstrings or detachable poppers (EU Safety Gate (opens in a new tab), our count, Verified).

Those faults are baked in when the pattern is drawn, so the fix is a design review at the sample and not a tougher inspection at the end. The test plan by family is on quality control in India. Organic or recycled claims need their own paperwork, which is explained in textile certifications and cotton traceability.

Where to Go Next

Pick the family, then the product, then the town. If you're starting from scratch, home textiles and cotton knitwear are where the evidence is deepest and the supply base is widest, and in our view they're the easiest place to land a first order. If you need hands on the ground to find a maker in the right town and check the first run, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) does that work.