PM Modi assures Tirupur exporters of action on trade deals with EU, Australia, Canada

CHENNAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meeting entrepreneurs from Coimbatore just ahead of a public meeting there, assured them of action on Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.
The FTA is a long-standing demand from Tirupur garments makers in their stated target to double their export in three years. Nearly 35% of total ready-made garment exported From India valued $8.56 billion in first six months of 2015-15, went to the EU.

"Our main competitor is Bangladesh, which is enjoying a duty-free market status in the EU. We are confident we can dent the market share of Bangladesh if the FTA with EU can be achieved, considering we have many factories with a compliance orientation at our end," A Sakthivel, President of Tirupur Exporters' Association.

Sakthivel added that Modi had told them that talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been initiated on all prospective trade-related tie-ups and that he will make sure "the government does the needful."

Tirupur exporters had also pitched for agreements with Australia and Canada. For Canada, garment exports from India have been in the range of Rs 1,400 crore for four fiscals now, even as those from Vietnam and Pakistan have grown on least-developed-country tariff treatment.

The exporters project that national garment exports will touch Rs 2.28 lakh crore by 2019-20 from the Rs 1.12 lakh crore in 2015-16 if the trade deals with the three exporting destinations are signed.