
Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) agreement seems to be a matter of concern for Indian textile export industry as it may affect India’s textile exports of around US $ 40 billion over the medium-term. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) claimed – “The key nations out of the 12 countries to whom India exports textiles and apparels are US, Japan and Canada. The value of India’s textile and apparel exports to these three countries stood at US $ 11.5 billion in FY15 which is likely to reduce due to the TPP.”
The TPP-member nations led by the US account for 40 per cent of world trade, and the current deal gives them duty-free access to each other, thereby making imports from other countries less competitive. The lack of TPP members’ backward integration into yarn and fabric will constrain members from taking full benefit and hence limit the negative impact in the short-term.
In FY15, India exported US $ 41.4 billion of textile products (including raw cotton) out of which US $ 18 billion were from apparel products. Vietnam would be a key beneficiary of the TPP, while India, China, and Bangladesh would be negatively impacted, though China is not a part of TPP.