MINDTREE
Q-and-A
Bangladesh’ s apparel exports to India is rising significantly, thanks to the booming retail market which is expected to touch US $ 1,576 billion by 2026 with fashion retail alone expected to reach US $ 104 billion by 2027.
Many renowned exporters have already started catering to India. What about you … Are you into Indian market already or planning to do so in the near future?
Md. Khosru Chowdhury Chairman & MD, NIPA Group
Maashed R Abdullah Director, Dressmen Limited
India is very promising. It has a very large population with considerable buying prowess … Dressmen is amongst the first to export to India and we started with manufacturing for Peter England. Currently we are supplying to Max, Pantaloons, Red Tape, etc. According to me, India basically has three main seasons – the pre-and post-wedding and the festival season. Considering the country’ s population and its demand which peaks during these periods, the retailers have no option but to source from Bangladesh to meet the requirements.
In Bangladesh apparel sector, a lot of manufacturers are interested to get into the Indian market because of the opportunities that it offers. Given the population that India boasts of, if we can cater to this market successfully, our sales here would be much higher than the entire Europe. However, there have been some payment-related issues with the Indian buyers in the past, which sort of increased the apprehensions amongst the exporters here.
Considering the good bilateral relations, demand and supply scenario and the other benefits a buyer from India would enjoy sourcing from Bangladesh, I think one has to abide by certain business ethics to ensure that business relationship between the buyer and supplier is good, which would encourage more and more exporters to look towards India.
Imranur Rahman Managing Director, Bando Designs Ltd.
We have started exporting to India already. We are exporting trousers for Indian Terrain and currently the production is on for this client. We have also started negotiating with TATA Trent; audit has already been completed and we are expecting orders soon. Having started working with Indian brands and retailers, I have got an understanding of the Indian retail market and feel that it holds lot of opportunities for apparel exporters / manufacturers from Bangladesh.
Asif Ibrahim Vice Chairman, Newage Group
The Indian domestic market is very promising with many international and local brands coming up lately. The biggest advantage for a buyer in India, I feel, is the sharp lead time that they would enjoy if they source from Bangladesh. Also communicating and meeting the buyers become much easier for a supplier as India is a neighbouring country. Of late, the Indian middle class is also spending a lot on buying garments; and all these add up to the business benefit for both the buyer and the supplier.
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MA Jabbar Managing Director, DBL Group
Many Bangladeshi manufacturers have already started catering to India. In these days of fast fashion and with the new sea links between the two countries, I feel the factors are conducive for further boosting apparel exports from Bangladesh. A neighbouring country with good connectivity and an upwardly-mobile middle class with increasing disposable income would open up new windows of growth opportunity for the Bangladeshi exporters for sure.
NEXT MINDTREE QUESTION As per reports, Bangladesh Government has decided to fix the minimum wage for the 3.6 million workers employed in the readymade garment sector of the country at Taka 8,000, which will be implemented from December this year. Do you think this has been a rational increase considering the need, requirement and challenges faced by the stakeholders or will it have any adverse business implications … Please share your views on the same.
10 Apparel Online Bangladesh | October 2018 | www. apparelresources. com