CITI welcomes India-UK FTA, cites gains from duty-free textile access

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) warmly welcomes the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK on July 24, 2025, which would remove the duty handicap that was coming in the way of Indian textile and apparel exporters in raising their market share in the United Kingdom.

CITI has welcomed the India-UK FTA signed on July 24, 2025, which grants zero-duty access for Indian textile and apparel products to the UK.
The deal is expected to boost India’s market share and competitiveness, aiding the $100 billion export target by 2030.
CITI aims to help firms maximise gains by enhancing efficiency, quality, and sustainability.

The UK is one of the largest markets for Indian textile and apparel products. Under the India-UK FTA, Indian textile and apparel products will enjoy zero duty access to the UK.

“The landmark FTA with the UK is a huge positive for India’s textile and apparel domain. It has the potential to significantly transform the fortunes of the entire Indian textile sector and provide the kind of impetus which is necessary to help India realize its ambitious goal of achieving textile and apparel exports of $100 billion by 2030,” CITI Chairman Shri Rakesh Mehra said.

“As a potential supplier of raw materials like MMF filament and specialised non-woven fabrics, the trade with the UK offers good complementarities. Courtesy this FTA, Indian exporters will now enjoy a more level-playing field vis-à-vis their peers from other countries when it comes to the UK market. This will enable our companies to significantly improve their market share not only in the top 20 product categories but across the broader T&A segment as well,” Shri Mehra added.

India is the 4th largest supplier of textile and apparel products to the United Kingdom with a nearly 6.6% share in the UK’s total T&A imports. During 2024, the UK imported T&A products worth about $27 billion, with apparel and made-up constituting 83% of the total. With about 25% share in the total T&A imports, China was the leading supplier to UK, followed by Bangladesh and Türkiye whose market shares were 15% and 8.5% respectively.

An analysis of the top 20 textiles and apparel commodities imported by the UK (at the HS 6-digit level) reveals that Bangladesh leads with a 23% share, followed by China (22.6%), Türkiye (10%), and India (4%).

Shri Mehra said CITI is working closely with industry and local authorities to ensure that Indian companies can take maximum advantage of the opportunities opening through the India-UK FTA.

“Our aim is to raise the business competitiveness of local textile and apparel units as it is only by becoming more efficient, productive, quality and sustainability-focused, and innovative that they can derive maximum gains from the trade deal,” Shri Mehra pointed out.

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Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)