At a conference on the Vietnam-India garment and textile cooperation on October 12 in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said Vietnam is seeking textile material suppliers outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
He noted that India’s fabric, natural fibre, cotton and garment accessories are of good quality and diversity.
In addition, the ASEAN-India free trade agreement has made Indian materials more competitive in term of prices.
Therefore, India is a potential destination for Vietnamese garment and textile industry to seek suppliers of materials and accessories, the Deputy Minister said.
Vishvajit Sahay from the Department of Heavy Industry under India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said India’s yearly export of garments and textiles to Vietnam already reached 400 million USD.
He said however, Vietnam’s imports of materials from India are still modest due to difficulties in payment and transport.
The official noted that last year the Indian government passed a 300-million USD credit programme in order to help Indian companies to enter the Vietnamese market.
He affirmed that both Indian enterprises exporting to or investing in Vietnam and Vietnamese enterprises which want to import garment and textile materials from India can seek preferential loans from the programme.
According to figures from the MoIT, the Vietnam-India trade has strongly grown in recent years, reaching 5.59 billion USD in 2014, up 9.84 percent in comparison with 2013.
