The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement signed on 2nd April 2022 comes into force with effect from 29th December 2022. This pact is the first trade agreement of India with a developed country in the recent past and is likely to benefit the whole gamut of products and services and commercial relations between the two Nations.
In a Press Release issued here, Ravi Sam, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has appreciated Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, Piyush Goyal for the historical achievement. He has said that the highly labour-intensive textiles and clothing industry will be greatly benefited from this pact. He has added that allowing the import of 51,000 MT of duty-free cotton from January 2023 and 419 MT of duty-free cotton from 29th December to 31st December 2022 from Australia would benefit the cotton textiles value chain in the country that has started facing the shortage of quality cotton with the increased demand.
Ravi Sam has said that the trade pact with UAE and Mauritius already started yielding better results and the pact with Australia would provide zero duty market access for several Indian textiles goods especially readymade garments and home textiles. Ravi Sam has said that the pact would greatly benefit bridging the trade deficit of around USD 8.5 billion with Australia as the bilateral agreement is expected to cross USD 45 to USD 50 billion trade in the next five years as against the current level of USD 25 billion.
SIMA Chairman has said that the 11% import duty on cotton and removal of around 10% tariff barrier that existed so far for export into Australia would boost the global competitiveness of the Indian textiles and clothing industry. He has hoped that speedy FTA negotiations with Canada, the UK and a few other countries would enable India to achieve the envisaged exports of USD 100 billion and also the total textile business size of USD 350 billion in a span of five to six years. He has stated that the initiative has given a tremendous moral boost to the Indian textiles and clothing industry which is currently undergoing recession owing to the global recession and economic slowdown.
