CMAI expects India’s y-o-y apparel exports to UAE to increase by 10-15%
white label manufacturing for the global brands, now want to take Indian national and local brands to the international markets. The growing strength of home-grown brands, their capacity to offer international standards at reasonable rates than the international brands can help the Indian apparel industry achieve a higher share of the global apparel trade, thinks the Clothing Manufacturers' Association of India (CMAI).
As a part of its efforts to take Indian brands to the international markets, CMAI had recently organised its first Brands of India exhibition in the UAE.
«We could showcase close to 350 Indian brands to the buyers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,» said Rajesh Masand, President of CMAI, adding, «We wanted to begin from a place which has a large number of Indian diasporas.»
According to CMAI, India exports about 1.1 billion USD of apparel to the UAE per year, which is expected to grow by about 10-15% per annum. «The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is expected to give a boost to India's apparel exports to the region,» said Jayesh Shah, Vice President of CMAI.
CEPA, signed in May 2023, has removed the import duty on goods exported from India to the UAE.
This move will also give a boost to the Indian apparel exports. Bangladesh, which is a competitor of the Indian apparel exporters, gets an advantage of duty waiver under the Least Developed Country (LDC) category.
The UAE-based retail chain like Lulu Group expects that the apparel segment would benefit the most from the CEPA agreement.
