Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Tirupur garment exporters of action on the issue of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union. He said this, while interacting with entrepreneurs from Coimbatore, just before attending a public meeting held there.
The Free Trade Agreement has long been the Tirupur garment makers’ demand, who had stated its importance to meet their target of doubling their export target in three years. About 35 per cent of the total readymade garment of the value US$8.56 billion were exported from India to the EU, in the first six months of 2015. Seeing an immense possibility in the region, the garment sector has been asking for an early implementation of the Free Trade Agreement.
FTA will help India in gaining a foothold in the traditional market, the EU and also help in making inroads in the market share of the competing countries. Moreover, Indian garments will also able to compete with Bangladesh after the entry in the EU market is made duty-free.
Nearly 35 per cent of the total readymade garment exported From India valued US$8.56 billion in first six months of 2015-15, went to the EU.
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Elaborating on the demand, Sakthivel, President of Tirupur Exporters’ Association, said, “Our main competitor is Bangladesh, which is enjoying duty-free market status in the EU. We are confident that we can dent the market share of Bangladesh, if the FTA with EU can be achieved, considering we have many factories with a compliance orientation at our end.”
Sakthivel said that the PM had also had entered into talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on all prospective trade-related tie-ups. The Tirupur exporters have also urged the government to engage in an accord with Australia and Canada. The entrepreneurs predict the national garment exports to reach Rs 2.28 lakh crore by 2019-20 from the 2015-16 value of Rs 1.12 lakh crore, if the trade deal is inked with these regions.
