India-EFTA TEPA to aid diversification beyond US market: CITI

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has high hopes about the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which comes into force on October 1, 2025, playing a significant role in expanding exports of Indian textile and apparel items in Europe.

“The TEPA can serve a much bigger purpose than just expand our exports of textile and apparel items to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, the four member states of the EFTA,” CITI Chairman Ashwin Chandran said, while commenting on the implications of this trade deal for India’s textile and apparel sector.

CITI expects the India-EFTA TEPA, effective October 01, to boost Indian textile and apparel exports to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
CITI chairman Ashwin Chandran said the deal complements the ongoing India-EU FTA talks and supports diversification away from the US, where 50 per cent tariffs hit exports.
Switzerland alone imported $367.6 million worth of Indian textiles in 2024.

“The TEPA will complement the gains which are likely to accrue for Indian businesses from the free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union which is currently being negotiated,” Chandran added. The India-EU FTA is likely to be concluded by the end of the year.

The CITI chairman said the TEPA also fitted in nicely with the aim of India’s textile and apparel exporters to reduce their dependence on the United States. “The TEPA will come in most handy as part of our diversification strategy,” Chandran pointed out.

The US is the single-largest market for India’s textile and apparel exports, contributing nearly 28 per cent to the revenue of India’s textile and apparel exporters. India’s textile and apparel exports to the US in the financial year 2024-25 was nearly $11 billion. The imposition of a 50 per cent US tariff on Indian goods effective August 27 has emerged as a major hurdle for India’s textile and apparel sector.

In 2023, trade between the EFTA States and India reached €5.54 billion, with exports from EFTA to India amounting to €2.33 billion. Major export categories include mechanical appliances, pharmaceutical products, and electrical machinery. On the import side, EFTA recorded 3.21-billion-euro worth of goods from India, driven primarily by organic chemicals, clothing accessories and machinery.

As per CITI’s analysis, India was the 7th largest supplier of textile and apparel items to Switzerland in 2024, accounting for 3.5 per cent of Switzerland’s total textile and apparel imports from the world. During 2024, Switzerland imported textile and apparel products worth $367.63 million from India.

Category wise analysis shows that apparel was the largest imported textile and apparel commodity by Switzerland from India and accounted for about 85 per cent of the total textile and apparel imports by Switzerland from India.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)