ABOUT TEA

Tirupur was an obscure town once has now been placed in the knitwear map of global apart from catering to the whole India. Tirupur is the Country’s largest textile cluster and accounts for 90% of the country’s cotton knitwear exports. The success story of Tirupur can be mainly attributed to the entrepreneurial skills of the people coupled with hard work and commitment to the job.

The achievement is from Three million to three billion in three decade.

In the financial year 2021-22, Knitwear Exports from Tirupur clocked Rs. 33,525 Crore, US $ 4.5 Bn, which is 1.08% of Merchandise Exports from our Country.

TIRUPUR KNITWEAR EXPORTS

Tirupur is contributing about 55% of total knitwear exports from our country and is exporting only cotton based garments. There is a good scope for increasing our market share in the global from the current level of about 2.6% by exporting value added products and synthetic products. The following table compares the with knitwear exports of Tirupur with all India exports.

Tirupur Knitwear sector employs Six Lakh Workers directly, out of this, 65% are semi-literate women workers hailing from rural areas and Two Lakh workers indirectly.

Knitwear Exports

(Value in Rs. Cr)
	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
All India	53,199	46,890	60,950	61,764	55,798	65,178
Tirupur	27,280	24,750	33,525	34,350	30,690	39,618
Share (%)	51.3	52.8	55.0	55.6	55.0	60.78

(Value in US $ Mn)
	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24 (P)	2024-25 (APR-DEC)(P)
All India	7,501	6,347	8,173	7,705	6,740	5701
Tirupur	3,846	3,350	4,496	4,285	3,707	3707
Share (%)	51.3	52.8	55.0	55.6	55.0	55.0

In 2022-23, Tamil Nadu Merchandise exports clocked Rs. 3,26,711 Crore, whereas Tiruppur Knitwear exports recorded Rs. 34,350 Crore with a share of 10.5%.

Domestic Business

Tirupur knitwear sales in the domestic market is Rs. 27,000 Crore and is growing significantly in recent years.

Chronological growth of Tirupur

The first knitwear unit in Tirupur was set up in 1925 and the growth of the industry was slow till late 1930s. A series of strikes in late 1930s in knitting factories in the neighboring towns of Salem and Madurai resulted in the opening of new firms in Tirupur. Subsequently, it emerged as the prominent centre for knitwear in South India by 1940s. In 1942, 34 units were engaged in the production of knitwear all these units were composite mills and the production was carried out in the same unit (sic). There are also references to some units performing specific tasks / operations like bleaching and dyeing, located in the larger units. By 1961, the number of units rose to 230 and till early 1970s, the industry catered only to the domestic market. These units were mostly composite mills without any subcontracting system of production. It was in the 1980s, the export market began to expand and subsequently Tirupur emerged as the largest exporter of cotton knitwear from the country, accounting for roughly 80 percent of the total cotton knitwear exporters.

Commencement of Exports

Tirupur’s direct exports started with Italy. Verona, a garment importer from Italy came to Tirupur in 1978 through Mumbai exporters to buy white T-shirts. A lot of job workers were manufacturing garments for merchant exporters. He realised the potential and came to Tirupur the following year. Verona was the man who brought European business to Tirupur. On seeing the quality, others soon followed suit. In 1981 European retail chain C&A came. Gradually, other stores also approached the exporters for supplying of garments.

A handful of manufacturers exported garments worth Rs.15 crore in 1985. The next couple of year was a windfall for Tirupur as exports touched Rs.300 crore in 1990.

CAPACITY OF UNITS IN VARIOUS OPERATIONS

Tirupur is known for the cluster activity and mostly each stage of the processing of garment making is normally being carried out by outside units say, Knitting units, Dyeing & Bleaching Units, Fabric Printing, Garmenting, Embroidery, Compacting and Calendaring and other ancillary units. The following table shows the number of units functioning to carryout the respective activities.

Operations	Number of Units
Knitting	2,500
Dyeing	360
Bleaching	50
Printing	400
Garment Making Exporting units Domestic and job working unit	2,500 1,700
Embroidery	600
Other Ancillary Units	11,100
Compacting and Calendaring	790
Total	20,000

FORMATION OF TEA

Tirupur Exporters’ Association popularly known as TEA was set up in the year 1990 in Tirupur under the leadership of Dr. A. Sakthivel and strived for the development of exports and also Tirupur. TEA has always been very quick in taking up the issues and stand in forefront to get them addressed. Dr. A. Sakthivel was the president of association till 27th September 2016 from the inception of the association.

Shri Raja M Shanmugham was president of the association from 2016-2022, for two term, Six years.

Shri.K.M.Subramanian was elected as President of the Association and he assumed office on 1st October 2022.

As on February 2025, TEA consisting of 1,330 knitwear exporting units as the members.

YEAR-WISE TIRUPUR EXPORT DATA

Year	Quantity (Lakh Pieces)	Value (Rs)	US Dollar / Rupee	Value in (US $ Mn)
1984	104.2	9.69	11.37	8.52
1985	172.1	18.69	12.36	15.12
1986	288.7	37.48	12.61	29.73
1987	333.56	74.49	12.96	57.50
1988	459.06	104.24	13.91	74.91
1989	614	167.39	16.22	103.18
1990	888.73	289.85	17.50	165.64
1991	905.11	429.48	22.69	189.29
1992	1399	774.93	25.92	298.96
1993	1893	1162.43	31.45	369.66
1994	1964	1318	31.37	420.09
1995	2171	1591.83	32.42	490.95
1996	2574	1897	35.43	535.43
1997	2983	2255	36.32	620.88
1998	3461	2619	41.27	634.64
1999	3764	3067	43.05	712.45
2000	4243	3581	44.94	796.84
2001	3831	3528	47.19	747.68
2002	3580	3250	48.60	668.73
2003	3812	3896	46.58	836.38
2004	4114	4468.75	45.32	986.12
2004 – 2005		6,500.00	44.93	1446.60
2005 – 2006		8,500.00	44.28	1919.75
2006 – 2007		11,000.00	45.26	2430.60
2007 – 2008		9,950.00	40.27	2470.78
2008 – 2009		11,250.00	46.09	2441.00
2009 – 2010		11,500.00	47.43	2424.41
2010 – 2011		12,500.00	45.54	2745.09
2011 – 2012		12,500.00	47.85	2612.53
2012 – 2013		13,000.00	54.44	2387.74
2013 - 2014		18,000.00	60.59	2970.61
2014 – 2015		21,000.00	61.15	3434.29
2015 - 2016		22,060.00	65.43	3371.34
2016 - 2017		23,620.00	67.07	3521.95
2017 - 2018		24,060.00	64.46	3732.33
2018 - 2019		27,650.00	69.94	3953.54
2019 - 2020		27,280.00	70.92	3846.48
2020 - 2021		24,750.00	73.88	3350.03
2021 - 2022		33,525.00	74.57	4495.78
2022 - 2023		34,350.00	80.16	4285.00
2023 - 2024		30,690.00	82.78	3707.00
2024 - 2025 (APR-DEC)(P)		26,305.00	83.42	3,707.00

As far as the export is concerned, all leading brands Nike, Cutter & Buck, Tommy Hilfigure, Point Zero, Fruit of Looms, Adidas, GAP, Katzenberg, Van Hussain, Fila, Arrow, TESCO, S Oliver, Inditex (Zara), US Polo etc., and leading chain stores like C&A, WalMart, Target, Primark, Sears and Mothers Care, H&M, Decathlon, Carrefour, Lindex, Hanes Brand, Polo, Ralph Lauren, NEXT, Kiabi, Columbia Sportswear, Bhs, Aldi stores, Guess Jeans & Spring Field etc., are sourcing from Tirupur.

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