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Huge opportunity for Indian apparels in Canada: Indian envoy in Ottawa

Updated: Dec 07, 2020 08:25:24am
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Huge opportunity for Indian apparels in Canada: Indian envoy in Ottawa

New Delhi, Dec 7 (KNN) There is a growing trust in India’s growth story among Canadian companies and a huge opportunity for Indian apparels to increase their market share in Canada, said Indian High Commissioner in Canada Ajay Bisaria.

Speaking at India-Canada Virtual B2B Meeting conducted by Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) with the support of Embassy of India, Ottawa, Canada, Bisaria congratulated AEPC for bringing together buyers from Canada and apparel exporters from India on one platform.

“Looking at the India-Canada corridor, there is a great deal of faith among Canadian companies in the medium- and long-term prospects of India, apart from conversations on immediate issues. Today we have a strategic partnership with Canada which is propelled and fuelled by the economic partnership,” Bisaria said.

The High Commissioner said that Canada’s market size for readymade garments is about USD 10 billion and the imports from India of readymade garments is just about USD 318 million, a very small fraction of about 3.1 per cent in 2019.

“I think this number can go up tremendously given the huge opportunity. We know that many top-quality brands are already sourcing from India GAP, M&S, Uniqlo and Calvin Klein,” he said, adding the B2B meeting had representatives from both traditional and new buyers.

Bisaria said that while investments from Canada have so far gone in infrastructure, energy and logistics a lot will come in multiple other areas including the huge opportunities in the textile sector.

“There are already 600 active Canadian companies in India. There are 1,000 Canadian companies doing business with India. Even in pandemic times, the overall engagement is about USD 100 billion if you count trade, investment, remittances and tourism spend. We see this number consistently increasing in the next few years,” he added.

AEPC Chairman Dr A Sakthivel said that Canada is a thrust market for India and continuous efforts have been made by AEPC to participate in Apparel Textile Sourcing Fair, Canada regularly. AEPC has developed a virtual exhibition platform for online virtual showrooms and exhibitions, which is available for 24*7 & 365 days, he said.

“India is focusing on higher value and specialized products like manmade fibre (MMF) apparels, medical textile and technical textiles. Canadian investors can set up manufacturing facilities in India directly or through joint ventures,” Dr Sakthivel said, inviting Canadian companies to partner in building R&D, design innovation, and incubation centers in India.

AEPC Export Promotion Chairman Sudhir Sekhri gave a presentation on India-Canada readymade garments trade and highlighted the significance of Indian apparel industry for key government initiatives like Make in India, Skill India, Women Empowerment and Rural Youth Employment.

He also focused on the comparative advantages of the Indian apparel industry and the possible areas of collaboration among the apparel sector players in both the countries.

“Canada imports USD 4,244 million of MMF garments from the world whereas it imports only USD 65 million from India. India’s share in Canada’s MMF garments imports is only 1.5 per cent. With a view to diversifying Indian apparel exports, our Council is working on expansion and improving MMF products in India’s Apparel export basket,” Sekhri said.

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