After experiencing positive trends in April, India's clothing exports were affected by European events, which dropped by 6.8% to 820 million US dollars in May.

The decline in clothing exports is contrary to the growth in total shipments.

"We get fewer orders from Europe and the US market," said PAM al Dany, President of the India garment export promotion association.

Europe accounts for more than 30% of India's total garment exports.

The sharp decline in Euro value has cut exporters, for example.

The euro has depreciated by 17.5%, while the India rupee has appreciated since last November.

The debt crisis hovering around many parts of Europe threatens the recovery of the global economy.

Even Greece, Portugal and Spain have adopted extensive frugal measures, but concern about the debt crisis still affects the healthy development of the European economy.

To reduce dependence on traditional markets, such as the US and Europe, garment exporters develop new markets such as Japan, Western Asia, Africa and Australia.

The Ministry of textiles has set an export target of US $12 billion for the current fiscal year.

Since October 2008, India's clothing exports have been hit by a 2.6% decline in the 2009-10 fiscal year, down to 10 billion 640 million US dollars.

The clothing industry provided employment for about 7 million people, half of whom were in the export sector.