When “Imports” Start Looking Like Evasion: A Wake-Up Call for India’s Technical Textiles

India is building a serious manufacturing story in technical textiles—through incentives, new capabilities, and an expanding domestic market. Yet on the ground, a troubling parallel trend is becoming hard to ignore: misdeclaration and undervaluation in fabric imports, especially in categories that directly compete with Indian technical-textile manufacturers.

Fair trade needs fair declarations — for India’s technical textiles to truly grow.

This isn’t a niche issue anymore. Conversations across the trade increasingly point to a reality where not only established businesses, but even small operators and individuals, are attempting to source technical textile fabrics from overseas—sometimes under private labels, sometimes generic—and resell them locally at prices that don’t reflect genuine duties, GST, or fair market value.

India’s technical textiles opportunity—and the pressure point

India’s technical textiles industry was valued at about US$29 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow sharply over the coming years. (India Brand Equity Foundation)

In parallel, the Government has been actively pushing the sector through initiatives like the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) aimed at research, market development, skilling, and export promotion. (Press Information Bureau)

That is exactly why unethical import practices sting more: they quietly undermine the very ecosystem that policy is trying to build.

The uncomfortable truth: misdeclaration is not a “discount”

Across ports and trading hubs, the concern is not about legitimate imports. Imports are a normal part of any value chain. The concern is about imports that are allegedly made cheaper through misdeclaration—where:

• unit values are under-declared,

• product descriptions are changed,

• quantities/weights are misstated,

• and categories are shifted to avoid checks or reduce duty impact.

Recent enforcement coverage has highlighted misdeclared Chinese fabric imports and industry demands for tighter action, noting tactics like routing through non-covered codes even when measures like Minimum Import Price (MIP) exist. (Fibre2Fashion) (Smart Info India)

There have also been reported seizures of large consignments of Chinese fabrics by enforcement agencies like DRI—publicly reflecting the scale of the concern. (Gujarat Samachar)

Here is the core concern—stated plainly but responsibly:

When consignments are systematically undervalued or misdeclared, they may be entering the market in form as imports, but in effect as evasion. The end result mirrors a grey channel, not fair trade—distorting price discovery, penalising compliant manufacturers, and rewarding shortcuts over capability.

This is not an argument against global sourcing. It is an argument for truthful declarations and a level playing field.

Why this hurts Indian manufacturing (and honest traders)

When undervaluation becomes common, it creates three damaging outcomes:

1) Honest manufacturing looks “expensive” even when it is efficient.

Domestic producers invest in plant, quality control, compliance, and skilled labour. Misdeclared imports bypass the true cost structure.

2) A race to the bottom starts.

Once the market normalises unrealistic landed costs, compliant players are pressured to match an artificial benchmark—or lose business.

3) Credibility suffers.

If a market becomes known for easy undervaluation, global suppliers and buyers begin to assume pricing is “managed,” not earned. That damages India’s long-term reputation as a manufacturing destination.

Enforcement exists—so does the gap

Enforcement agencies do take action against misdeclaration and undervaluation across categories, and public releases frequently reflect this broader mandate. (DRI) Reports have also surfaced of large fabric seizures—such as a widely reported DRI action at Mundra involving Chinese fabrics—underscoring that the concern can be material in scale. (Gujarat Samachar)

But the market’s deeper anxiety is not about whether any action happens. It is whether the system’s deterrence is strong enough to ensure that compliance becomes the default.

“Ease of doing business” must also mean ease of doing the right thing

Faster logistics and port efficiency help genuine trade—and that’s positive. But higher throughput also means risk systems must keep pace, especially in categories repeatedly flagged by industry.

A mature approach is simple:

• protect legitimate imports,

• support domestic capability,

• and ensure pricing reflects reality—not misdeclaration.

A practical path forward

A balanced solution can include:

• Stronger risk profiling for repeated patterns (abnormal pricing, repeated description switches, inconsistent specs).

• Reference-price intelligence to flag outliers (not to block trade, but to trigger scrutiny when needed).

• Time-bound examinations so compliant shipments aren’t delayed while suspicious ones are assessed properly.

• Industry participation in sharing benchmark specs and realistic cost bands to help enforcement separate genuine deals from improbable declarations.

Closing thought

India cannot build a world-class technical textiles ecosystem on policy alone. It also needs market discipline—where capability is rewarded, compliance is normal, and distortions don’t become “accepted practice.”

When misdeclaration thrives, the cost isn’t only revenue leakage. It leads to lost confidence, reduced investment, and weaker capability—the very foundations India is trying to strengthen in technical textiles. (Press Information Bureau) (India Brand Equity Foundation)