Apparel industry is happy as the Minister of Commerce & Industry, and Textiles Piyush Goyal has announced that there is a “very positive momentum” in terms of FTAs with the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, UAE, Israel and the GCC countries.
Dr. A. Sakthivel, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), said in a statement, “We are excited to hear that discussions on FTAs with many countries are progressing fast. We have been requesting the Government to fast track the trade deals. FTAs will remove tariff disadvantages faced by Indian apparels in many markets. Early Harvest Agreements with the UK and Australia can help triple Indian apparel exports to these markets in the next three years.”
He said that the Government is taking sincere efforts towards achieving the target of US $ 400 billion merchandise exports in the current fiscal with both Prime Minister and Commerce Minister taking lead in holding meetings with Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) in quick succession.
“We are not only confident of achieving the ambitious target of US $ 400 billion this year, but with the dynamic leadership provided by the current Government we will also achieve the 2030 export target of US $ 2 trillion with equal contribution from merchandise and services exports,” he said.
Dr. Sakthivel also raised various issues faced by apparel exporters including Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES), raw materials export issues, extension of export obligation period till 31 March 2022, freight support, RoDTEP issues, FTAs and banking issues.
