India’s overall textile and garment exports remained almost flat at $40 billion in the last fiscal, according to a quick estimate said a senior textile ministry official. Still, the exports fell short of the official target of $45-47.5 billion for 2015-16.

Textile minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Friday said that the government has fixed the textile and clothing export target at $48.5 billion for the current fiscal, aiming for an over 21% rise in outbound shipments from the actual level of 2015-16.

With demand from China remaining tepid and recovery in the developed markets like the US and the EU still fragile, the ambitious shipment target for the current fiscal would be hard to achieve, especially in view of stiff competition from countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

For its part, the textile ministry has sought a quick resolution of the India-EU free trade agreement, which would pave the way for duty-free access of Indian textile and garment items to the EU, which account for over a third of the country’s garment exports, official sources said.

Gangwar said that the ministry has spent over R6,500 crore on various schemes for the promotion and development of the textile sector. Roughly 5 lakh additional jobs have been created in the past two years in the textiles sector.

Gangwar said that the textile ministry has circulated a note for inter-ministerial consultations on its textile vision policy. The policy will then be placed before the Cabinet for approval.