Ministry of Textiles is continually communicating with the Ministry of Commerce to facilitate FTA with EU to boost the international trade, especially in the textile sector, said Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

Rashmi stated that India has greater competitive advantage as compared to other nations in terms of environmental compliances. She added that Bangladesh enjoys preferential treatment and tax benefits for textile exports, however, countries of the European Union lay huge importance to environmental compliances and that is where India stands to gain over Bangladesh.

She appealed industry to take full advantage of the special package announced by the Government for the textile sector. She also pointed out that industry needs to increasingly focus on innovation, modernisation and technological advancement to become world-leaders in the textile sector.

Indian textile industry is at a turning point. On one hand China's export growth in textiles is decreasing while India, riding on cost advantage, have huge potential to play a prominent role in international textile trade. India is also amongst very few countries which have the entire value chain existing with the country.

Further, following the true spirit of federal competitiveness, several states are coming out with their own policy and incentives scheme for the textile sector, which augurs well with the aim to make India a leading global play in the textile sector. Roll out of the GST will also greatly help in streamlining the tax structure and improve compliance, she added.