A section of textile entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu’s Western belt are making a concerted effort to tap into the domestic market, especially into the widening ecommerce market, as a hedge against the vagaries of the exports market that they have been faced with for the past few decades. Traditionally evolved as an export-oriented ecosystem, the manufacturers of Tirupur and Coimbatore have had to decode currency undulations, deal with rising labour costs and make do with a lighter incentive basket from the Tamil Nadu Government even as States such as Gujarat and Telengana gave periodic boosts to manufacturers. On top of that remains the heightening competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, countries that enjoy export expressways – duty-free access into the European market.

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