India-Australia textile trade is likely to reshape in the years to come as Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed this year will open the doors for greater trade among industry of both countries. India’s exports of textile products to Australia are heavily dependent on apparel, while it primarily imports cotton and home textiles. The ECTA aims to boost bilateral trade and investment between the two countries. As per the provisions of the agreement, Australia will supply cotton duty-free to the Indian market. This is expected to increase India’s cotton imports from Australia. Of the $170.1 million textile imports made by India from Australia in 2021, 95 per cent was cotton, and home textiles accounted for the remaining 5 per cent, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro.
During the previous years, India’s textile imports from Australia had steadily declined from $326 million in 2017 to $265 million in 2018, $164 million in 2019, and $77.5 million in 2020. India imported textile products worth $57.4 million in the first four months of this year, as per TexPro. Once the ECTA comes into force, this trend may reverse. On the other hand, India’s textile exports to Australia stood at $604.2 million in 2021. In this, the share of apparel was 45 per cent, followed by home textiles with share of 29 per cent, and other textile products with 26 per cent, TexPro data shows. But, with the ECTA, the configuration of the products and their share in exports may change.