From January 2022 to November 2022 India’s apparel exports to the UAE have fallen by 36 per cent on a year on year basis.

Obviously the free trade agreement with the UAE isn’t proving much fruitful for the Indian apparel export sector.The UAE has also slipped to third rank in top Indian apparel export destinations’ tally, while the UK has gone up to the second rank – thanks to the latter’s positive sourcing from India.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the United Arab Emirates was signed in May 2022 and it was speculated that India’s trade with the MiddleEast would get a boost.However, exports of other industries than textile and apparel such as gems, jewellery, sugar confectionery, cereals, and electrical machinery have noted a significant rise in the UAE market after the implementation of the CEPA. Even in the first eight-month period of fiscal year 2023– which was precisely the period of CEPA’s implementation – India’s apparel exports to the UAE market plunged by a whopping 42 per cent.

The fall in the UAE market has proved to be a headwind for Indian exporters who are performing well in other parts of the world.Till November 2022, India’s apparel exports to the global market grew by 11 per cent.