India-UK CETA, yet another pathbreaking policy initiative by PM, SIMA hails

In a press release issued here today, Dr SK Sundararaman, Chairman, The Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) has profoundly thanked the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,  Commerce & Industry Minister, Piyush Goel and Minister of Textiles, Giriraj Singh for the landmark and pathbreaking achievement. He thanked the Government for giving a major thrust to the textile sector and securing zero-duty access, which was previously subject to duties up to 12%. The bilateral trade between the two countries currently stands at nearly US$ 56 billion and is expected to double by 2030. The textile sector, particularly ready-made garments and made-up textiles with minimal import content, is likely to contribute a larger share to this growth, says SIMA Chief.
SIMA Chairman has stated that the unique policies announced by the Gol to boost the exports like National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM), Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme and more so, the PM MITRA Scheme would attract huge investments and create jobs for lakhs of people in the coming years taking advantage of India-UK CETA. He has said that the recently launched Mission for Cotton Productivity scheme would greatly increase the cotton textile exports.
Dr Sundararaman has added that Tamil Nadu, being the single largest textile manufacturing state in the country with a lion's share, nearly one-third of the total capacity, is likely to emerge as the major beneficiary. He has further said that exporting clusters like Tirupur and Karur would have tremendous opportunities to achieve exponential growth. 
He has pointed out that the export orders for cotton knitted garments and kitchen linen have already been on an upward trend, strengthened by long-term business commitments, following the announcement of the conclusion of India-UK FTA negotiations on 6th May 2025. SIMA Chairman has stated that the unique policies being announced by Government of Tamil Nadu for sustainable cotton development, modernization and technology upgradation of various segments of the textile industry including Virudhunagar PM MITRA park would add strengths to Tamil Nadu textile industry, enabling the industry to grab the emerging opportunities of FTAs.