India and the United Kingdom are engaged in negotiations to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA), the deal will help the textiles sector. Similar FTAs, signed with United Arab Emirates and Australia, also assure opportunities for the sector. Textiles is a sector where margins of even 4%-5% are very important to become competitive. With the FTAs, we insist that we get duty free access for textiles and in both UAE and Australia. The textile sector assures that there are opportunities for both.

The Centre is working on other FTAs that will help the textile sector. The U.K. FTA, for example, has 9-12% import duties on different items. If that goes away, it will certainly give a big boost to our textile industry. The textile industry is clear that they are going to achieve a target of US$100 billion in exports and the sector is going to become the largest creator of jobs and employment.