India’s knitwear exports have declined with a market share of a meagre 0.3 per cent of the total knitwear products imported by Japan in 2014 in spite the fact that India enjoys duty free access to Japan.

Prashant Godghate, secretary general of Japan India Industry Promotion Association (JIIPA), said that if Indian knitwear exporters want to enter the Japanese market on a large scale, then they should improve the quality of their products and display sticking to delivery schedules. Also, they should come up with innovations in order to meet the preferences of Japan, he added.

Further, he stated that almost 80 per cent of the total textile products imported into Japan were from China, although Chinese textile exporters did not have duty free access to Japan.

India’s market share in woven garments import in Japan was at 1.45 per cent while knitwear imports at 0.3 per cent, he added.