India and the UK had signed a free trade agreement (FTA) on May 6, 2025 and which comes into effect from July 15, 2026.
This FTA is expected to help boost Indian exports of textiles and apparels to the UK as it provides duty free access exports of textiles and garments to one of Europe’s largest clothing import markets.
The FTA will strengthen supply chain resilience for Indian exporters and also create a cost advantage for Indian exporter’s vis-à-vis competing countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc.
The deal will provide improved access to UK high street fashion brands by making Indian textile products cheaper for UK retailers.
In 2024 alone, UK imported textiles and apparels totaling to $28.71 billion, with Chinese exports reaching $5.86 billion, Bangladesh $3.67 billion, Turkey $2.02 billion and India $1.7 billion.
However, to benefit from duty-free access, Indian exporters have to obtain a valid preferably digital Certificate of Origin (CoO) for each shipment and atleast 40% of value of the textile products should be added in India.
When the deal was signed last year, Ashwin Chandran, Chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) said the UK is one of the largest markets for Indian textile and apparel products.
“India’s textile and apparel exporters, until now, had to contend with a duty handicap compared with competitors like Bangladesh in the highly promising UK market,” he added.
“The India-UK FTA will change that, providing us with a level-playing field so that our products can find more willing buyers as they can now be priced more attractively relative to competition,” Chandran informed.
He further added, “The agreement will enable our companies to significantly improve their market share not only in the top product categories of UK’s textile and apparel imports but across the broader textile and garment segment as well.”
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