Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Textile minister Giriraj Singh Friday indicated that India and EU will announce a trade deal in the next four days and urged industry to diversify so that garment exports grow. Drawing comfort from trade numbers, he said: “Many believed that Indian exports will fall due to the tariff war. Industry was worried… Despite the storm, we have remained stable… the world market is open for us.”While inaugurating the India International Garment Fair, Singh said that garment exports have increased from Rs 95,000 crore ($11.3 billion) during April-Dec 2025 to Rs 1,01,000 crore ($11.6 billion) and cited market diversification as one of the reasons.
He said 40 new destinations were identified with countries, such as Argentina seeing 77% rise in exports, Egypt (30%), Poland and Japan (20% each), Sweden, UAE and France (10% each) and Spain and Germany (5%) each. The comments came just as Rahul Gandhi took to social media to claim that 50% US tariffs have crippled Indian textiles sector. “This isn’t a shutdown… Rahul Gandhi, stop speaking against the country. It’s a shutdown of your mind, not an industry shutdown,” Singh told reporters, while accusing the Congress lawmaker of making misleading claims.
