India this year is expected to export apparels worth 9.2 billion USD against 8.78 billion USD in 2008, while shipments from Vietnam are likely to increase from 8.4 billion USD last year to 10.08 billion USD in 2009, according to Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) estimates. 

Bangladesh, which has already overtaken India to hold the fifth position in the world textile trade, is projected to reach 12 billion USD in apparel exports, the AEPC said. 

Major markets like the US and European Union, which are reeling under deep financial crisis, would prefer countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and China over India, as they are sources of cheap imports, AEPC said. 

Between January and October 2008, Vietnam exported 1.04 billion EUR of apparels to the EU, against India’s 3.38 billion EUR. However, in terms of growth, Vietnam’s shipments increased by 10.25 percent, while India posted a marginal increase in the period. 

Vietnam’s share to the US increased despite exports from the Southeast Asian nation have been put under the US scanner of anti-dumping mechanism.

With the monitoring programme having ended, the exporters from Vietnam would have unrestricted access to US stores, the AEPC said.