“Textiles is a sector where margins of even 4-5 per cent are very important to become competitive. With the FTAs, we are insisting that we get duty free access for textiles,” Goyal said addressing the media at the National Textile Conclave in Varanasi.
“The UK, for instance, has existing import duties of 9-12% on different items. If that goes away under the India-UK FTA, it will certainly give a big boost to our textile industry,” he said.
On the FTAs, India has already signed with the UAE and Australia, the Minister said that the textile sector had assured him that there are immense opportunities for both.
“Our textile industry is clear that they’re going to achieve the targets (including $100 billion export target). They’re going to become largest creators of jobs and employment and work opportunity,” he added.
On the PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme, the Minister said the government was in advanced stages of evaluating the 18 proposals that had been received. “We hope we will be able to finalise them in the near future,” he added
The MITRA park seeks to integrate the textile value chain from spinning, weaving, processing/dyeing, printing to garment manufacturing.
(The correspondent is in Varanasi at the invitation of the Ministry of Textiles)