Expressing fears that the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership will have serious implications on the textile sector, besides hitting garment exports to the US, the Indian Texpreneurs Federation has approached the government to give the issue a closer look.
In a letter to the Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, ITF Secretary Prabhu Damodharan reasoned that exporters from TPP member countries will get preferential access in the US market while non-members like India will lose out, especially for garment exports.
Stating that the US imported about USD 82 billion worth of apparel of which India supplied about USD 3.7 billion, he said this accounted for 21.5 per cent of Indian total apparel exports, down from 23 per cent in 2014.
If duty turns disadvantageous for India's apparel exports, the share is likely to fall substantially, he added.
On Yarn Forward Rule (YFR), Prabhu said it has been made mandatory to source yarn, fabrics and other inputs used in making clothes from TPP partner countries only to avail of duty preference.
YFR will induce garment manufacturers in TPP countries to source their raw material from them at the cost of non-TPP countries like India even if suppliers from that region are not the most efficient, he said.
Moreover, India's exports of apparel, both direct as well as indirect via Vietnam, to TPP countries like the US will go down since buyers would like to procure from TPP-based vendors, which may hurt India's fabrics and apparel exports, Prabhu added.
