The Textile Ministry plans to include garments and made-ups in the early harvest program being worked out between India and the UK as a precursor to a full-fledged Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The FTA will enable Indian exporters to face competition in the UK from countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan, who have duty-free access for a number of items under various schemes. Garment exporters from countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan have a tariff advantage of about 10-11 per cent because of the special schemes they qualify for.

In 2019, India exported apparels worth $1.4 billion to the UK while Bangladesh exported apparels worth $3.6 billion, as per figures collated by the Apparel Export Promotion Council. The industry, too believes, removal of tariff disadvantage would give a big boost to the exports. Last month, Piyush Goyal, Indian Commerce & Industry Minister and his British counterpart Anne-Marie Trevelyan, launched negotiations for an ambitious FTA targetting an interim agreement by mid-April and the comprehensive deal including a number of areas including goods, services, investments, government procurement, intellectual property, e-commerce, gender and sustainability by the year-end.

Both countries aim to double bilateral trade in goods and services to $100 billion by 2030.