American clothing companies are scouting for greater investment opportunities in India. They are eager for a free trade agreement between the US and India. Fifteen American companies have forwarded a proposal for improving the ease of doing business, providing higher skills to workers and drawing up a sustainable growth plan for the sector. The delegation comprised representatives from American textile majors such as Ralph Lauren, PVH (which owns brands like Calvin Klein, Timmy Hilfiger, Van Heusen and Arrow) and Carter’s. However as of now the two countries have not even been able to work out a limited trade agreement involving a few products.

Following the US-China trade war, manufacturing is moving away from China. More and more American companies are looking at moving their investments from China. On paper, India has significant strength and could be the natural successor to China. There is a window of opportunity for India to attract investments in manufacturing. In doing this, India faces a lot of competition from countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. In the last four years, investments worth $30 billion in textiles have moved out of China because of various factors, including rising input costs, but very little has come to India.