New Delhi, June 11 -- At the round table conference hosted by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) today, titled "From Farm to Foreign: Saga of Indian Textile & Apparel Sector," the urgent need for structural reforms in India's textile and apparel sector was highlighted.

Experts agreed that the sector stands at a critical inflection point, marked by declining export competitiveness, fragmented production systems, and policy bottlenecks.

The discussions were framed around the 5F Framework textile value chain-Farm, Factory, Fabric, Fashion, and Foreign.

At the farm level, while Bt cotton adoption led to a 193 percent increase in cotton production between 2002 and 2014, productivity has since stagna...