The free trade agreement between India and the UAE will give duty free access to garments made in India and help increase India’s garment exports.

India is already the second largest supplier of readymade garments to the UAE after China. The UAE has traditionally been the topmost trading partner for Indian garment exports. With signing of the UAE-India CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) giving duty-free access to Indian garment exports, this share is expected to increase further.

India has a huge export potential especially in categories such as women’s wear, kids’ wear, knitwear, home furnishings and technical textiles used in the construction industry, agriculture, medicine etc.UAE clothing brands have a great opportunity to source from India considering the strengths of the Indian garment industry in terms of raw material availability and variety right from cotton, jute, silk, viscose, nylon, acrylic with abundant in house production. India’s apparel designs and styles are in line with the latest fashion trends in a wide range of traditional cotton and manmade fiber garments.

After having established itself in traditional garments, the Indian apparel industry has now moved on to diversifying itself into newer areas of manmade fiber garments. Indian companies and businesses have benefited from leveraging Dubai’s position as a supply market to the Gulf and other regions.