Indian textile industry lobbies against Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Following Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Indian textile industry fears high imports of finished products from China. Domestic industry lobbies mounting pressure on the government against any tariff concessions to their rivals in the 16-member group. Trade ministers of the group are scheduled to meet on 13 July in Malaysia to align positions and accelerate talks to close a deal as scheduled by year end. RCEP, started in May 2013, comprises the 10 economies of the ASEAN region-Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. It has six of its free trade partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

Though textile associations like CITI (Confederation of Indian Textile Industry) have urged that the rules of origin are finalized in such a manner that the raw material used should be either from the exporting country or the importing country, but not from a third country.