Sanjay K Jain, Chairman, CITI has advised the Indian government to be cautious about the textile industry in the RCEP pact. He noted the pact, likely to be concluded by the end of 2019, contributes approximately 39 per cent of the global GDP. The total T&C exports of RCEP member countries’ was $413 billion and accounted for 49.44 per cent share of the world exports in 2018. India’s share in the total export of T&C among RCEP nation’s remained at 9 per cent (approx.) during the same period.

India had a trade deficit of almost $1 billion with China in T&C in 2018. The ongoing US-China trade war presents an opportunity to the Indian textile manufacturers to enhance exports to the US, while the RCEP trade scenario reveals India must tread cautiously, particularly with China, as half of India’s T&C trade in RCEP is with China, with which it had a big trade deficit of almost $1 billion in 2018.

As China would be looking for new markets for its products, India needs to be over cautious while negotiating with China. India’s trade deficit with China in T&C sector is likely to widen once RCEP is concluded and could be detrimental for India’s domestic textile manufacturers.