Also the country's textiles import from Nepal spurted by 67 per cent to Rs 77 crore during April 97 - February 98. According to the informed sources, it is because of the zero duty that these neighbours enjoy, certain countries have started routing their textile sales to India through them.

Reportedly, Thailand which has been subjected to anti-dumping duty by India on its acrylic fibre and yarn has started pushing it through Nepal. A lot of synthetic and other textile items are being pushed through Bangladesh. India's total imports of textile yarn, fabrics and made-ups shot up by 19 per cent to Rs 1343.60 crore during the eleven-month period ended February 98.The largest imports of these items originated from China which constituted 15 per cent of India's total textile imports.

Next on the list is South Korea whose share is 11 per cent followed by Taiwan (9.5 per cent), Thailand (7.4 per cent), Indonesia (6.6 per cent ), Nepal (5.8 per cent), USA (5.8 per cent), Hong Kong (5.7 per cent), Germany (5 per cent), Japan (4.7 per cent). Among the countries which accounted for more than one per cent of India's textile imports, the highest growth came from Bangladesh (510 per cent) followed by UAE (70 per cent), Nepal (67 per cent), China (59 per cent), Italy (56 per cent), U K (33 per cent), whereas South Korea and Singapore were the only two countries registering a negative growth at 17 per cent and 12 per cent. The share of top ten importing countries in our total textiles imports was 76 per cent.