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Bengaluru, 1st April 2025: The Foundation for Economic Development (FED) in its new case study on Shahi exports underscores the critical role of India’s apparel exports in creating the jobs that India needs. The case study also highlights the consequent need for a policy environment that supports large-scale manufacturing, employment generation, and export competitiveness. Shahi Exports serves as a prime example of how large-scale apparel manufacturing can drive economic progress and create opportunities, particularly for women, in India’s workforce.
As part of its research on India’s manufacturing sector, FED has published a case study titled Stitching India’s Manufacturing Success Story. Shahi Exports was founded in 1974 by Sarla Ahuja, with an initial investment of ₹5,000 to establish a small garment production unit in Delhi’s Ranjit Nagar. Starting with a team of just 15 women, she built a business that exports garments to Europe and the USA. Over the decades, Shahi Exports has played a transformative role in India’s apparel industry, emerging as the country’s largest manufacturer and exporter of garments. Today, the company operates over 50 manufacturing units across eight states, employing nearly 100,000 people—70% of them women.
The case study looks at how Shahi Exports successfully scaled its operations through a combination of data analysis, interviews with apparel industry veterans, and broader secondary and primary research in the manufacturing sector. It finds that exceptional and professional management, verticalisation of operations, and a strong commitment to sustainability and ethical labour practices were key to Shahi’s success.
At the same time, the study also explores why India, despite its vast labour pool and natural resources, has not seen the emergence of multiple large apparel exporters on the scale of Shahi Exports. FED has extensively analyzed India’s apparel landscape, emphasizing the need for policy interventions that promote ease of doing business, improve infrastructure, and integrate India more effectively into global supply chains. Strengthening large-scale manufacturing hubs and exporters like Shahi Exports is essential to unlocking India’s full potential in this sector and for creating the jobs that we need.
The case study sets out three key objectives:
- Analyze the factors that contributed to Shahi Exports’ success in the competitive garment export market.
- Understand the challenges that have prevented India’s apparel manufacturing sector from attaining global competitiveness.
- Suggest policy and industry interventions to help Indian manufacturing reach the next level.
“India has a unique opportunity to become a global leader in apparel manufacturing, while addressing our employment challenge, but to do so, we must address long-standing regulatory and structural limiters.” said Rahul Ahluwalia, Director of the Foundation for Economic Development. “Our research highlights how companies like Shahi Exports have set a benchmark for the industry, and we hope to see more such large-scale manufacturing companies and hubs emerge across India to drive export competitiveness and job creation.”
FED’s research emphasizes the need for policy interventions that promote ease of doing business, improve infrastructure, and integrate India more effectively into global supply chains.
