CHENNAI: With a slate of crucial free trade agreements (FTAs) operationalised, the textile industry is upbeat on export opportunities. The UK deal, which kicked in on Wednesday, eliminates tariffs of up to 12% and brings parity with key competitors like Bangladesh and Vietnam. While companies of all sizes are actively negotiating orders, concerns remain that India may not fully tap this potential due to supply chain fragmentation, longer lead times, and a lack of manufacturing scale.

The FTA is already generating a demand pull, said Prabhu Dhamodharan, convener of the Indian Texpreneurs Federation. “Unlike some previous deals, Indian exporters have long-standing relationships with buyers in the UK, including for brands and supermarkets such as Primark, Next, Tesco, M&S and small brands and can ramp up exports immediately. We are already witnessing a lot of inbound requests and trail orders as increasing concern about supply concentration and political stability creates a favourable environment. Indian units can immediately tap opportunities and exports are expected to double to 12% in the next four to five years,” he said.

“Medium and small scale companies are evaluating incremental automation technologies and could begin investments in capacity addition, modernisation and integration once there is clear visibility on orders and payback time,” Dhamodharan added.

India currently holds a 6% share of the UK’s apparel imports. Beyond tariff differentials, the industry struggles to compete on cost due to fragmented supply chains and higher input costs, which include MMF (man-made fibre) and cotton fabric costs and relatively low labour productivity.

Various industry experts TOI spoke to said the challenges lie in both the value added and high-volume segments, including in cotton textiles, where India has a stronger domestic ecosystem. One medium-scale exporter, on condition of anonymity, told TOI that the difference could be as 20%- 30%, mainly due to higher man-made fabric costs. Exporters believe govt should incentivise the MMF fabric ecosystem and strengthen the domestic cotton supply chain.

Hitesh Jain, strategist at Yes Securities, noted the sector may not leverage FTAs as effectively as the auto or pharma industries. “Trade agreements may improve market access, but the sector is less likely to convert preferential market access into sustained export growth. Our modelling shows structural challenges such as declining competitiveness, changing global demand patterns. Vietnam and other countries gained from China plus one in the sector, limits the incremental benefits from tariff liberalisation alone.

”Pointing out that currency weakness has not helped exporters in recent months, he said, “Due to high import dependence, our landing costs were higher, which negated our export competitiveness even during rupee’s depreciation.”