The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, which came into force from Thursday, is set to provide a “big relief” to Indian textile exporters, the Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry said.
Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4 per cent of exports (by value) from day one. India’s goods exports to Australia stood at USD 8.3 billion and imports from the country aggregated to USD 16.75 billion in 2021-22.
Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry (CITI) Chairman T Rajkumar said he is hopeful that the “India-Australia ECTA (Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) will help boost textile and apparel exports as the FTA is slated to provide a big relief to Indian textile exporters who had to pay about 10 per cent customs duty in countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK”.
Sharing that India’s ready-made garment exports to Australia have seen a growth of an average of 11.84 per cent over the last five years, Rajkumar opined that going by this growth trend and with the agreement coming into play, exports may grow immensely in the coming times. “Customs duty advantage under the India-Australia free trade agreement will help Indian apparel exporters get greater market access in that country as compared to their competitors,” the CITI Chairman explained. Rajkumar remarked that Australia is the largest importer of garment in the Southern Hemisphere, and holds immense potential for Indian Textile and apparel exporters.
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