ET MSME Awards 2025: How CMAI became the backbone of India's garment revolution
Each week, the ET MSME Awards will feature an industry association that has played a critical role in India's growth story. This week, we celebrate CMAI. If you own or manage a clothing and apparel enterprise, nominate your business for the ET MSME Awards 2025 before August 31, 2025.
Off the bustling bylanes of Prabhadevi, in what was once Mumbai's mill hub, the hum of sewing machines never quite dies down. Here stands an organisation that has quietly shaped India's apparel destiny since 1963: the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).
The CMAI may not grab headlines in the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) space the way electronics or healthcare suppliers do, but its influence runs through every thread of India's $176 billion textile industry. From its humble beginnings to becoming the voice of over 20,000 companies, from micro units to international juggernauts such as Levi's, its story is essentially the story of how India's textile sector evolved from post-independence protectionism to global competitiveness.
The architect of export success
CMAI's most transformative contribution came in 1978, when the organisation took the lead in the creation of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). At a time when India's garment exports were nascent and fragmented, this initiative laid the foundation for what would become a multi-billion dollar export engine.
The timing couldn't have been more crucial. The late 1970s marked India's gradual opening to global trade, and the garment sector needed institutional support to navigate international markets. Born from CMAI's vision, AEPC became the regulatory body that would eventually oversee the promotion of India's garment exports.
Today, when Indian apparel flies off international retail shelves from New York to Tokyo, that success traces back to CMAI's institutional foresight nearly half a century ago. When an Indian garment shipment reaches international ports with CMAI's certification, it carries the credibility of an institution that has vetted industry players for decades.
For small exporters, such institutional backing can be the difference between smooth customs clearance and costly delays.
Are you a top exporter? Nominate yourself for the ET MSME Awards 2025
The MSME champion
CMAI's real genius lies in understanding that India's clothing and apparel industry would be built not by industrial behemoths, but by thousands of small manufacturers scattered across the country. Long before 'MSME' became a policy buzzword, CMAI recognised that the sector's strength lay in its distributed network of small entrepreneurs.
This insight shaped everything from CMAI's advocacy positions to service offerings. When it established a network of affiliate testing associations and facilities, it wasn't just about meeting international quality standards, but about making those standards accessible to small enterprises who couldn't afford their own facilities. For a manufacturer in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, or Punjab, this means the difference between accessing global markets and remaining trapped in domestic price wars.
CMAI's approach to supporting MSMEs goes beyond advocacy — it creates markets. The association's trade fairs have become crucial business platforms where small manufacturers meet retailers, forge partnerships, and showcase innovations.
The North India Garment Fair (NIGF), scheduled for November 25-27 this year, exemplifies this philosophy. More than 95% of exhibitors are MSMEs from across India, including Mumbai, the National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Retailers, wholesalers, agents, e-commerce representatives, distributors, and international buyers alike throng the NIGF, making it an economic lifeline for clothing and apparel enterprises.
Interfacing with government and society
CMAI also doubles as an interface between government policy and ground-level business reality. When policymakers design schemes for the textile sector, they often rely on CMAI's insights to understand how regulations on market access, credit, and ease of doing business will play out in practice.
The association also plays a proactive role in voluntary commitments to sustainability. In 2019, it partnered with India's Ministry of Textiles, UN in India, and Reliance Brands Limited to launch SU.RE (short for Sustainable Resolution), an initiative that creates a pathway to move towards more sustainable fashion. SU.RE signatory brands include the likes of Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Biba, AND, the Aditya Birla Group, and Being Human.
Lastly, through apparel training centres in multiple states, CMAI has trained over 43,000 people and placed nearly 33,500 trainees under the Ministry of Textiles' Integrated Skill Development Scheme.
The digital transition
Like many traditional industries, garment manufacturing has had to navigate the digital transformation. CMAI has positioned itself as a bridge between old-economy manufacturers and new-economy opportunities.
Its embrace of e-commerce platforms and digital marketing reflects this evolution. By helping traditional manufacturers understand online retail dynamics, CMAI has enabled countless small businesses to expand their reach beyond physical trade fairs and regional markets.
This digital push became particularly crucial during the Covid-19 pandemic, when traditional business models faced unprecedented disruption. Companies that had embraced digital platforms through CMAI's guidance found themselves better positioned to weather the crisis.
To sum up
As India aims to become a $5 trillion economy by 2027, the garment sector's role becomes even more critical. With textiles and apparel going through rapid evolution, from fast fashion to sustainable clothing and from offline to omnichannel, CMAI's challenge is to help members navigate these transitions.
The association's recent focus on sustainability and technological upgradation suggests it understands these challenges. But its real test will be helping traditional manufacturers adapt to changing consumer preferences while maintaining the cost competitiveness that has been their historic strength.
CMAI's five-decade journey offers a masterclass in industry institution-building. It didn't just represent existing interests, but helped create the very ecosystem that allowed those interests to flourish. From a handful of Mumbai-based manufacturers to a pan-Indian network of 20,000 companies, CMAI's evolution mirrors the transformation of Indian manufacturing itself.
In boardrooms where billion dollar deals are discussed, CMAI's influence might seem modest. But in the workshops and factories where India's garment story is stitched together, its role as facilitator, advocate, and enabler continues to define possibilities for countless entrepreneurs.
That's the quiet power of institutional leadership: not the dramatic disruption that makes headlines, but the patient building of systems that allow entire sectors to thrive.
The ET MSME Awards 2025 , which has IDBI Bank as banking and lending partner, is open for nominations. Put yourself up for consideration before August 31, 2025.
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