By Admin 
The Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union, which is being called the Mother of All Deals from both sides, has not only made US President Donald Trump sweat, but India’s neighboring country Bangladesh is also surprised by this deal. And the reason for this is that with the implementation of this deal, India’s textile business will reach the heights where Bangladesh once dreamed of reaching. But this deal has not only broken that dream of Bangladesh but this deal has also written the story of destruction of Bangladesh, which Mohammad Yusuf could never even imagine.
The clothing market in the European Union is worth about $263 billion. The biggest stake in this is from China, which has 28 to 30 percent share in this market. Bangladesh is at second place, which has captured 21 to 22 percent of this entire market. The biggest reason for this is that Bangladesh has duty free access in the European Union, due to which its business is big. At third place is Turkey, which occupies about 10 to 12 percent of this entire market. Geographically, Turkey is close to Europe, so Turkey’s big brand clothes are consumed in the European Union. Vietnam also sells good quality clothes to the European Union. And that too absolutely duty free. So the people of European Union happily buy those clothes cheaply.
When it comes to India, till now India has been able to control only 5 to 6 percent of the market. If we talk in figures, then in Europe’s textile market which is worth 263 billion dollars, India is able to sell only about 8 billion dollars worth of clothes. The biggest reason for this was that the tax on the clothes sent from India to Europe was 9 percent to 12 percent. Still feeling it. But when this free trade agreement is implemented, the tax on Indian clothes will become zero. And then India will also join the list of exports like Bangladesh and Vietnam, whose clothes do not attract tax.
In the benefits enumerated by the Government of India regarding this trade deal, it has been clearly stated regarding the textiles industry that India sells clothes worth about 36.7 billion dollars i.e. about Rs 3.19 lakh crore in the whole world. Till now, India was able to sell clothes worth only 7.2 billion dollars i.e. about Rs. 62 thousand crores to the European Union, but after the trade deal, not only will India’s exports increase, but to meet this demand, more people will be needed in the textile business and this will also create new jobs and the dependence on the American market will also reduce, because till now it was America, which used to buy the most clothes from India. But now in the coming days, the European Union can replace America, which has troubled everyone because of its tariffs.
And as far as Bangladesh is concerned, its destruction is certain. Because till now Bangladesh is the second country after China, which produces clothes on a large scale and sells it to the world. It has got duty free access in the European Union, so that is its biggest market. Although Bangladesh has to depend on China for raw materials, India also supplies it with raw materials and makes similar clothes like t-shirts, lowers, jeans and basic garments. But now when India is also getting duty free access in the European Union, then this market of Bangladesh is sure to be affected, because one, India has diversity in textile manufacturing, it makes everything from sarees to designer clothes, second, India has no shortage of raw materials and especially cotton and the biggest thing is that there is political stability. In such a situation, the biggest challenge for Bangladesh, which is sometimes facing civil war-like situations and sometimes political instability, is to save its textile business, because after the trade deal, India is completely ready to take that place.
After this trade deal, India aims to sell double the amount of clothes to the European Union in the next five years. That means the business which is currently worth 7 billion dollars should become 15 billion dollars. When this happens, jobs will also come in India and the government believes that because of this, about 70 lakh people will get direct and indirect employment in the next few years. As of now, about five to five and a half crore people are involved in the textile business and the government aims to reach 10 crore people by 2030. It is expected that this trade deal will help a lot in achieving this goal.
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