India insists on duty free access for textile exports in FTAs, says Goyal

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said India insists on getting duty free access for its textiles exports in its free trade agreements (FTA) and that the country would achieve the $100 billion textiles exports target by 2030.

"The UK FTA, for example, has 9-12% import duties on different items. If that goes away, it will certainly give a big boost to our textile industry," he said at the two-day textile conclave in Varanasi coinciding with Kashi Tamil Sangamam.

In the textiles sector, he said, margins of 4-5% are important to become competitive.


"With the FTAs, we insist that we get duty free access for textiles and in both UAE and Australia, the textile sector assures me that there are opportunities for both. We are working on other FTAs that will help the textile sector," he said, adding that the agreements will give a big boost to the sector.

India is negotiating an FTA with the UK and has already implemented one such agreement with the UAE. The FTA with Australia will come into force from December 29.

On Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks, Goyal said 18 proposals have been received from different states and would be finalised after the Parliament session.