The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will help India compete in the textile and clothing sector against Bangladesh and Pakistan who were till now enjoying zero duty on the export of these goods to the UK. Till now, Indian textile and clothing exports to the UK attracted 10-12% duty depending on the product.
Textile company Welspun Group chairman B.K. Goenka said India will now have a level playing field in the UK market. “The CETA will give a fresh boost to textile and apparel exports from India to the UK,” he said.
India is the fourth largest supplier of textile and clothing products to the UK with a nearly 6.6% share in UK’s total imports of these. During 2024, the UK imported such products worth $27 billion, with apparel constituting 83% of the total. China is the largest supplier to the UK with 25% share followed by Bangladesh and Turkiye whose market shares were 15% and 8.5% respectively.
Rakesh Mehra, chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, said India is a potential supplier of raw material like man-made fibre filament and specialised non-woven fabrics. “CETA will enable our companies to significantly improve their market share not only in the top 20 product categories, but across the broader segment,” he said.
The government said family run weaving units and artisan clusters in Panipat, Bhadohi, Agra along with designers, dyers and embroiderers from Kanchipuram, Bhagalpur, Varanasi and Jaipur will benefit from this trade agreement. It said there will be more jobs in hubs like Tirupur and Kanpur.
KM Subramanian, president of Tirupur Exporters Association, said the knitwear units there export apparels worth Rs 8,000 crore to the UK which can increase to Rs 13,000 crore. The 2,000 knitwear units in Tiruppur are on an expansion spree over the last six months in anticipation of the India-UK CETA, he said.
Goenka, however, said all eyes are now on what tariff the US imposes on the textile and apparel sector. “If the US imposes a tariff as high as 25%, then the benefits from the India-UK CETA will be neutralized,” he said.
On the investment side, the India-UK CETA is expected to encourage greater bilateral cooperation between Indian and UK companies, facilitating joint ventures, innovation partnerships and market development initiatives, said The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council.
