As India and the United Kingdom are engaged in negotiations to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA), Union Minister for Commerce and Textiles Piyush Goyal said in Varanasi on Wednesday that the deal will help the textiles sector. He said similar FTAs, signed with United Arab Emirates and Australia, also assure opportunities for the sector. Mr. Goyal was addressing reporters at the national textile conclave as part of the Kashi Tamil Sangam.
The Minister said textiles is a sector where margins of even 4%-5% are very important to become competitive. “With the FTAs, we insist that we get duty free access for textiles and in both UAE and Australia. The textile sector assures me that there are opportunities for both,” Mr. Goyal said.
He said the Centre is working on other FTAs that will help the textile sector. “The U.K. FTA, for example, has 9-12% import duties on different items. If that goes away, it will certainly give a big boost to our textile industry,” the Minister added.
The Minister said the textile industry is clear that they are going to achieve a target of $100 billion in exports and the sector is going to become the largest creator of jobs and employment. “The PM Mitra scheme is in advanced stages of evaluating the 18 proposals we have received and we hope we will be able to finalise them in the near future,” Mr. Goyal said.
