October 2019 Edition Apparel October 2019 issue | Página 82

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
THE ROAD AHEAD
Samir Alam deconstructs the reality of India’s declining economy and its impact on the
apparel industry.
India is undergoing a cold fall this year. As of September, official
economic data regarding the state of the economy and its future
is bleak. Trends in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) indicate
that a recession is on the horizon; for others, this is a temporary
side-effect of international geopolitics with no fault of the nation’s
economic fundamentals. In either case, however, the impact felt by
the industry is undeniable, and apparel is no different. This month,
we attempt to decipher the currently prevalent economic trends
in the country and ascertain whether the economy of the Indian
apparel industry is in decline.
THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY
There is no denying the numbers. The Indian economy has entered
a slowdown, as is evident from government datasets. The current
nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is, in fact, lower than it
was during the global recession of 2008–09. But even back then,
the nation was able to muster a steady growth of six per cent.
Currently, India is facing a GDP growth-decline that is caused due
to a number of factors such as weak consumer demand and credit
paucity. As a result, the country’s GDP growth has been recorded
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I APPAREL I
October 2019