The order was priced in March. The yarn was bought in June.
Textile businesses price orders weeks or months before they buy the yarn, pay the job-workers or receive the dollars. Each of those gaps is a risk: cotton and yarn prices move, processing losses vary, buyers delay and deduct, and the rupee moves against the dollar. A business can ship more every year and still earn less.
The fix starts with knowing the real margin on each order after it ships, and planning the money behind it before it's accepted.
Follow ₹80 crore of exports through a typical garment exporter
Here is the cash cycle of an illustrative garment exporter shipping to European buyers:
At ₹80 crore of sales a year, 90 days means about ₹19.7 crore is permanently tied up in the cycle. That is what your bank limit and your own capital are really funding. Get paid 15 days sooner and about ₹3.3 crore comes back, with no new loan and no new customer.
Illustrative composite figures, not a client's. Your own cycle comes straight from your balance sheet: stock, receivables and payables, each divided by a day's sales or purchases.
Six money problems specific to textiles and exports
Cotton and yarn prices
Mills buy a year's cotton in a season; garment makers buy yarn order by order. We track input price against quoted price and reprice in time.
Packing credit discipline
Pre-shipment finance must be liquidated from export proceeds on time, or fresh credit stops. We plan it order by order.
Buyer delays and claims
Late payments, quality deductions and cancelled shipments eat margin. We track every buyer's real payment behaviour and adjust terms.
Currency exposure
Orders priced in dollars months before payment. We plan forward cover with your bank around the order book.
Job-work chains
Fabric moves between units for knitting, dyeing, printing and stitching. We reconcile movements and keep the GST paperwork right.
Export incentives
Incentives arrive on the government's schedule. We claim on time and forecast conservatively.
Want a CFO to look at your numbers?
A senior CFO reviews your figures with you and shows you where to improve. No cost, no obligation.
How we make textile orders profitable and fundable
Order costing before acceptance
Yarn, processing loss, labour, overheads and finance cost, priced at expected rates.
Order margin after shipment
Actual against quoted, every order.
Export finance plan
Packing credit and post-shipment finance against confirmed orders, with every liquidation date tracked.
Buyer and currency tracking
Receivables, claims and exposure by buyer.
Job-work reconciliation
Every movement out and back, monthly.
Check your own numbers
See what your limits support across the order book:
Ask CFOAvatar about your orders
What clients say
Some of the businesses we work with.
We now review sales every month by segment and geography, which has helped us focus on the right markets. Regular monthly reviews with the sales team have improved accountability and progress tracking.
What truly sets them apart is their ability to dive into the details—cash flow, operations, and compliance—while simultaneously offering strategic insight that supports long-term decision-making. Their guidance has always been practical, thoughtful, and tailored to our specific needs rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.
Working with CFOSurge has truly transformed how we look at our business finances. They helped us set up monthly business plans right down to the bottom line, which has given us so much more clarity and control. Highly recommend them to any business looking to get a real grip on their numbers!
Quoted word for word from our clients. Some quotes use our former name, Soatech.
Questions owners ask us
How should a garment exporter cost an order?
Include yarn or fabric at the expected purchase price, processing and cutting losses, labour, job-work, trims, freight, finance cost for the full cycle and currency at a conservative rate, then compare actual against quoted after shipment.
What happens if packing credit isn't liquidated on time?
The bank treats it as overdue and may stop fresh packing credit until it's cleared. Liquidating the oldest credit first, and planning against confirmed orders, prevents it.
Do you work with spinning mills and processors?
Yes. We plan cotton funding and stock valuation for mills, and cost processing per kilo for dyeing and printing units.
