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Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday reiterated that India too would get zero export duty access for garments for which cotton yarn is imported from the US, similar to Bangladesh. The Minister was speaking to ET NOW.
The US and Bangladesh signed an agreement on February 9, reducing reciprocal tariffs to 19 per cent from 20 per cent previously announced. Alongside, zero-tariff access for special textile and apparel products made with US cotton and man-made fibre was provided under the arrangement. The Minister addressed concerns of many that the Indian textiles industry would be hit by duty differentials vis-a-vis Bangladesh after the neighbouring country signed a deal with the US. "The same concession is available to India also," he asserted, speaking to ET NOW. "It's called a yarn forward -- if you buy cotton or yarn from the US and process it and produce garment, you are able to export it to the US at zero duty. That's an established principle of theirs and India will be benefited from the same way of working," he said. This arrangement, he said, will not hurt Indian cotton producers noting that the volumes of cotton that the country will require will be huge. He cited the huge demand in the US for Indian textile products. "We will actually need to focus more on increasing productivity because there's tremendous demand coming in for cotton given the EU, FTA, given all the 38 countries whose markets we have opened up. So I can see before my eyes huge requirement for more cotton and a huge and a wonderful future for our country," he added. When the interim agreement is finalized with the US, one would get to see it in the fine print, Piyush Goyal had told reporters earlier. According to a report from SBI Research, US imports around USD 7.5 billion of textile imports from India and around the same quantity from Bangladesh. India and the US also have finalized an interim trade deal framework last week, whose fine print is expected sometime in March. Both countries decided to address non-tariff barriers affecting bilateral trade. On February 2, a phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump led to the announcement of the conclusion of negotiations on the much-awaited trade deal. The Trump administration had imposed tariffs on several countries, including India. There was a 50 per cent tariff on goods from India entering the United States since August 2025. The tariffs have now been reduced to 18 per cent following the leaders' recent phone call. The BTA, formally proposed in February 2025, seeks to more than double bilateral trade, from the current USD 191 billion to USD 500 billion by 2030. (ANI)
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