Ethiopia beckons Tirupur garment exporters

After Asian countries, Ethiopia is beckoning garment exporters from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, the knitwear hub of the country, as they struggle to cope with Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation issues and withdrawal of export incentives in India. Already, a few units from Tirupur have set up base in Ethiopia, which is tipped to become the next Bangladesh, one of India's main rivals in garment exports. A combination of factors not available in India seems to be attracting exporters to Ethiopia. Indian garment exporters have suffered heavily due to competition from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which enjoy duty-free access to Europe. Many exporters had started units there to take advantage of this facility. But Bangladesh is fast losing charm for exporters with declining productivity. Tirupur, which accounts for 46 per cent of the total knitwear garment exports from the country, saw its export decline by 8 per cent to 24,000 crores in 2017-18 for the first time in five years. The garment exporters have been requesting the government for at least partial restoration of export incentives and free trade access to Europe to boost shipments.