Readymade garment exporting firms of India have come across competitiveness changes in the international business environment. The paper takes a view that Indian apparel export firms will have the opportunity to increase their global market share provided they take the necessary steps to make themselves competitive in a quota free world after 31 December 2004. The analysis is based on a survey of Indian apparel exporting firms. These apparel exporting industries are located in 14 major clusters. These firms are members of the apparel export promotion council a service enterprise of Ministry of Textiles. This paper studies selected structural and operational parameters of these firms that could impact their performance in future and brings out critical issues that require immediate attention to increase their competitiveness.