Manoj Patodia, Chairman, Texprocil, has welcomed Ministry of Textiles’ initiative to sign a limited trade deal with the UK for textile and apparel products. Patodia said the UK is one of India’s largest trading partners amongst the European countries in textile & clothing (T&C) sector accounting for almost 24 per cent of the T&C products exported from India to the EU region. With UK signing trade agreements with 62 countries by January 1, 2021 including competing countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, it becomes all the more imperative for India to conclude the limited trade deal without any delay as India stands to lose market share.

Patodia also mentioned that the proposed visit of Elizabeth Truss, UK Secretary of State for International Trade, provides an opportune moment for discussing the ‘limited trade deal’ which can get further cemented during the visit of Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister in April.