5 months ago
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The India–European Union (EU) escaped commercialized statement (FTA) volition beryllium a game-changer for the apparel industry, provided determination is duty-free access, accidental the manufacture heard.
According to A. Sakthivel, chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), India presently exports implicit $4.5 billion-worth apparel to the EU. Indian apparel exporters look important tariff disadvantages compared with competing countries specified arsenic Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Turkey.
The manufacture is hopeful of zero-duty marketplace entree for Indian apparel from the time the FTA becomes effective. This is captious for employment-led growth, strengthening of MSMEs, and promoting women-intensive manufacturing, helium said.
Tiruppur Exporters Association president K.M. Subramanian said that Tiruppur accounts for apparel exports of astir $ 1.74 cardinal to the EU, contributing astir 22.9% of India’s full textile and apparel exports to the EU.
As a highly labour-intensive sector, the manufacture is simply a captious operator of employment, providing livelihoods to implicit 1 cardinal people, of whom astir 70% are women. The clump comprises 2,500 registered exporters, implicit 20,000 ancillary units, and achieved export turnover of astir ₹45,000 crore successful the past fiscal twelvemonth 2024-25. It is globally recognised arsenic an ESG-compliant cluster.
Persistent tariff barriers successful the EU proceed to interaction India’s competitiveness. The TEA has consistently advocated for broad zero-duty marketplace entree nether the India–EU FTA.
With Tiruppur accounting for astir 30% of India’s apparel exports to the EU, the signing of the India–EU FTA volition beryllium a game-changer for the textile and apparel sector.
