Indian garment exporters are hoping for tariff-rate quota, which countries such as the Bangladesh have got, from Washington as India is also a major buyer of U.S. cotton.
Officials in a couple of textile and apparel export promotion councils told The Hindu on Wednesday that the Indian government is trying to negotiate with the U.S. for tariff concession for garments that are made with U.S. cotton and are exported to that country. “Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia will not be charged the additional 10% tariff by America for garments that have U.S. cotton. However, this is a quota-based concession and will not apply for all garments exported by Bangladesh to the U.S. Australia offers India similar concessions,” said one of the officials. Further, India is talking to the U.S. for a bilateral trade agreement too.
India imports substantial quantity of American cotton and hence, the garment exporters have asked for tariff-rate quota for India too. While Indian exporters are at a disadvantage because of this concession to some of the competing countries, it may not affect India much because it is quota-based, they said.
The threat of higher tariff on India because of its oil imports from Russia is another threat for the exporters now.
The officials said the U.S. is an important trading partner for India and its total garment imports are worth $80 billion. However, EU is also a major market, importing close to $ 120 billion worth garments. If India is able to expand deeper into the EU market, the garment exporters will have an alternative market to supply to, they added.
Published – July 29, 2026 08:27 pm IST
