SIMA Applauds India-New Zealand FTA for Boosting Textile Exports

By siliconindia  |  Wednesday, 24 December 2025, 08:25:31 AM IST

SIMA Applauds India-New Zealand FTA for Boosting Textile Exports
  • SIMA welcomes India-New Zealand FTA, calling it a timely and landmark move to strengthen the global competitiveness of India’s textile and apparel industry
  • FTA ensures zero-duty access for Indian textile exports to New Zealand, boosting market access, export diversification, and value-added product opportunities
  • Agreement expected to drive growth and jobs, supporting MSME-led capacity utilisation and helping the sector move towards its USD 350 billion target by 2030

The Southern India Mills’ Association has welcomed the successful conclusion of the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, terming it a timely and major step that would help reinforce the global competitiveness of the Indian textile and apparel industry. The textiles and clothing sector is India’s second-biggest producer and consumer of cotton in the world and the second-biggest employer after agriculture, with nearly 80 percent of its installed capacity being in the MSME segment.

India is also the world’s sixth-biggest textile and apparel market. The growth momentum of the sector has already been reinforced by the recently concluded India-UK Free Trade Agreement, which is likely to result in an improvement in market access and competitiveness for Indian textile products.

The Union Government has pursued the road to sustained growth through a series of policy initiatives aimed at resolving long-standing structural issues throughout the textile value chain. These initiatives include establishing a Cost Control Committee, a Cotton Think Tank with representatives from all key stakeholders, and launching a Mission for Cotton Productivity to study ways and means for improvement in productivity, quality, contamination control, and sustainability over the long run.

It added that reaching the targeted business size of USD 350 billion by 2030 calls for sustained efforts in the direction of ensuring the availability of quality raw materials along with widening of India's global market presence through diversified export destinations and more focus on value-added products. In a press release issued here, SIMA Chairman Durai Palanisamy thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh for what he termed a landmark and path-breaking achievement in concluding the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. He said the agreement gives a major thrust to the textile sector by securing zero-duty access to the New Zealand market.

Also Read: CAI Urges Govt to Scrap 11 percent Cotton Import Duty to Aid Textile Sector

While the textile and apparel exports of India stood at USD 36.9 billion during the year 2024-25, the exports to New Zealand touched USD 103 million, expected to grow further considering the annual textile imports by New Zealand from across the world are valued around USD 1.9 billion, said the chairman of SIMA.

Welcoming the agreement, Mr. Palanisamy said the FTA would substantially increase the prospects for Indian textile and apparel exporters by offering better duty-free market access in New Zealand. He said the agreement would also help in diversifying export markets at a time when the global textile trade faces volatility and uncertainty in demand.

He pointed out that New Zealand is a developed market with stable demand and high standards that can offer good prospects for Indian manufacturers to enter value-added segments such as fabrics, garments and made-ups including home textiles. The SIMA chairman said the agreement is expected to contribute to employment generation, improved capacity utilisation, and sustained growth in the textile sector, enabling the industry to fully capitalise on the opportunities arising from this important trade pact.

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