Expressing gratitude towards the Centre for its fast response in finalising the first draft of the Joint Study Group (JSG) report on the feasibility of India-EAEU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) has urged Union Minister Nirmala Seetharaman to consider the textile sector as a priority in the ongoing study.
An association of the Indian textile industry, the Indian Texpreneurs Federation has members hailing from the entire technical textile value chain from raw materials to finished goods producers, machinery manufacturers, consultants, the centre of excellence and R&D Institutes. The main objective of the organisation is to promote, support, develop and increase production, consumption and export of technical textile to make India a hub of technical textiles in the days to come. The organisation also promotes its members’ growth and success, and aims to become a platform that voices the sector’s concern and emphasises on public policy for the South Indian Technical Textile Industry. It aspires to become a singular voice for the entire textile value chain, bringing all stockholders of the sector under one umbrella.
ITF Secretary Prabhu Dhamodaran, in a letter to the Minister, said that there are tremendous opportunities for the Indian textile products in southern India.
Adding that the Indian textile industry needed to reach out to untapped markets to overcome the challenges raised by the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he opined that ITF had already submitted the basic information regarding the scope for export of Indian textile products to Russia, the main country in EAEU.
In the 2014 fiscal, Russia had imported textile and apparel items, worth US$ 13.5 billion, of which only US$ 7.5 billion was for apparel items, and India’s share was just US$ 248 million of this huge Russian market, he pointed out.
Prabhu also added that ITF was willing to submit data and also take an active part in this JSG process.
