India has returned to the forefront as a sourcing destination of choice for many buyers. Among the respondents of a QIMA survey, 26% named India among their TOP 3 sourcing geographies. Notably, despite being traditionally viewed as a textile hub, India as a buying market was regarded just as highly for promotional products, footwear, and eye wear, jewelry and accessories (ranked as a TOP3 sourcing choice by over one-third respondents in all those sectors).
Internal QIMA data on audit and inspection demand confirms the increased interest in India sourcing in Q1, when demand for inspections and audits spiked 72% YoY compared to 2020. This growth far outpaces the Q1 YoY growth rate of the South Asia region as a whole (+28% YoY in Q1 2021) driven, among other things, by an influx of U.S.-based buyers: inspection demand from them has been on the rise for a consecutive six months.
India is already a huge global supplier of automobile parts, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods and services, entertainment content, chemicals and more. Processed foods, medical devices and disposables, petroleum products and many other categories are growing exports for India.
