The Ministry of Textiles wants clothing to be included in the India-UK FTA's early harvest programme

10 February 2022, Mumbai:

The Ministry of Textiles (MoT) wants garments and made-ups to be included in the early harvest agreement being negotiated between India and the United Kingdom as a prelude to a full-fledged Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

It's worth noting that clothing exporters from Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Pakistan benefit from a tariff advantage of roughly 10% to 11% thanks to specific programmes that they qualify for.

If India and the United Kingdom agree on tariff reductions, Indian exporters' competitiveness will skyrocket. According to a report in the top business daily, BusinessLine, the Ministry of Transportation has advised the Commerce Ministry to focus on having garments included in the early harvest programme being discussed with the United Kingdom. 

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In the UK market, there is a big opportunity for the garment business. On the other hand, India's textile imports from the United Kingdom are quite low, and the local sector will not be harmed if taxes are reduced on the Indian side as well.

According to official figures, the overall import of garments in the UK in 2019 was the US $24.9 billion, with India accounting for just US $1.4 billion and Bangladesh accounting for the US $3.6 billion.

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*Figures mentioned in the above article have been sourced from Business Line & Apparel Resources article.