India-United Kingdom FTA to benefit textile clusters in T.N.

The recently concluded Free Trade Agreement between India and the United Kingdom is expected to boost export of garments and home textiles and benefit clusters such as Tiruppur and Karur.

Shaleen Toshniwal, chairman of the Manmade and Technical Textiles Export Promotion Council said, the agreement provides duty free access to Indian garment and textile and India will have a level-playing field in the UK market with competitors such as Bangladesh and Vietnam.

“To capture a larger share of the U.K. market, we must use our inherent advantage of a vertically integrated domestic supply chain, leveraging it to offer speed and flexibility,” he said.

According to Sudhir Sekhri, chairman AEPC, Indian textile and garment exports will not attract the 9.6% duty that was collected so far. “India is the fourth largest supplier of garment with 6.1% share of the total readymade garment import of the U.K. The RMG exports to the U.K. from India grew 7.8% between April – March 2024-2025 compared with the previous fiscal.

The top products imported by U.K. from India include T-shirts, singlets and other vests of cotton, knitted or crocheted, women’s or girls’ dresses of cotton; babies’ garments and clothing accessories of cotton, knitted or crocheted.

Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council chairman Vijay Agarwal said there is a huge potential to grow the market share of Indian exporters to approximately 10% to 12% in the U.K. over the next three years.

S.K. Sundararaman, chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), said that in the total U.K. exports of textiles, ready-made garments of all textiles account around 70% and cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products, etc., account around 15%. Exports of home textiles, especially the kitchen linen from clusters like Karur, had been struggling with the tariff disadvantage when compared with countries like Pakistan and the sector would now soon be able to double its exports to U.K.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, said the FTA will enhance competitiveness, spur innovation, and create new opportunities for businesses in Coimbatore to thrive on the global stage.

Published – May 11, 2025 08:22 pm IST

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