Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) chairman Vu Duc Giang recently invited Indian companies to invest in the country’s yarn, weaving, dyeing and printing segments to take advantage of the market access provided by free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed. He was speaking at the India-Vietnam Textile Cooperation event in Ho Chi Minh City last week. He expressed hope that cooperation between the two sides would benefit both countries.
K Srikar Reddy, Indian consul general in HCM City, said bilateral trade in textiles between India and Vietnam has registered impressive growth during the last two years. Indian textile and clothing exports to Vietnam grew 48 per cent during the last two years from $390 million in fiscal 2016-2017 to $578 million in 2018-2019, according to a Vietnamese newspaper report.
However, there is significant untapped potential for trade in textiles between both sides, Reddy said. Under the India-ASEAN FTA most types of yarns, woven and knit fabrics could be imported duty-free from India, he added.
Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council of India, said in 2018, while Vietnam’s total textile imports were worth $27.90 billion, its imports from India were valued at $640 million, or only 2.29 per cent. Rajagopal invited Vietnamese companies to participate in the IND-TEXPO (reverse buyer-seller meet) to be organised by TEXPROCIL in March in Coimbatore.
Organised by the Indian Consulate General, VITAS, the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association, and HCM City Textile and Garment -Embroidery Association, the event attracted 60 Indian companies, which also participated in the 19th Vietnam International Textile and Garment Industry Exhibition in HCM City from November 20 to 23.
