Fashion
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The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) expects the upcoming Budget to futureproof India’s textile and apparel sector through measures that will make the arena more resilient, innovative, and globally competitive.
CITI has urged the Union Budget to futureproof India’s textile and apparel sector through reforms on raw material pricing, competitiveness, sustainability and trade facilitation.
Seeking duty-free cotton, technology and green schemes, and export support, CITI said that high US tariffs threaten jobs in a sector vital to GDP, exports and livelihoods.
“Our optimism that the forthcoming Union Budget will significantly move the needle on policy and regulatory reforms is bolstered by the government’s steadfast commitment to the growth and development of India’s textile and apparel sector,” CITI chairman Ashwin Chandran said.
“The Budget enabling the creation of a stronger growth ecosystem for the Indian textile and apparel sector can also have a positive ripple effect on the Viksit Bharat (developed India) goal,” Chandran added.
India’s textile and apparel sector is the second-largest provider of jobs and livelihoods in the country. It is also a significant contributor to the country’s GDP and exports.
Some of the specific measures that the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) would like to see in the coming Budget are:
1. Raw material and price stability-related:
- Removal of import duty on all varieties of cotton fibre.
- Change in MSP formula for cotton to align with international benchmark prices.
- Launch of a Cotton Price Stabilisation Fund.
- Ensure availability of man-made fibres (MMF) at globally competitive prices.
2. Competitiveness, technology, and sustainability-related:
- Launch of a Green Technology Scheme to support MSMEs’ transition to clean energy and sustainable practices.
- Launch of an alternative scheme to the erstwhile Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.
- Launch of a scheme to promote indigenous textile machinery manufacturing.
- Address high power costs and industrial cross-subsidies.
- Establishment of a National Textile Fund.
3. Trade Facilitation-related
- Extension of RBI’s Trade Relief Measures to cover the entire textile value chain.
- Increase in Basic Customs Duty on all types of knitted fabric to curb imports at unviable prices.
- Reintroduction of the MEIS Scheme.
- Extension of the facility of Duty-free Import of specified items/goods to exporters of made-ups.
“Combined, these measures could increase the resilience of India’s textile and apparel sector and help it become a more powerful force globally, while also contributing towards realising the national target of creating a $350 billion textile and apparel industry in India by 2030,” Chandran said.
India’s textile and apparel sector has been hit hard by the 50 per cent US tariff on Indian goods, effective August 27, 2025. The steep US tariff has adversely affected numerous Indian textile and apparel companies, thereby increasing the risk that millions of people working in this sector may lose their jobs and livelihoods.
The US is the single-largest market for India’s textile and apparel exports, contributing almost 28 per cent to the total revenue of the country’s textile and apparel exporters. India’s exports of textile and apparel products to the US were valued at nearly $11 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25.
“India’s textile and apparel exporters have stepped up their diversification efforts, but it is tough to quickly make up for potential business losses in the US. Also, while existing and upcoming FTAs would create new opportunities for India’s textile and apparel sector, these benefits will require time to materialise,” Chandran said.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)
Published
January 19, 2026
Valentino Garavani, an icon of Italian fashion, founder of his eponymous maison, and widely regarded as one of the greatest designers of all time, died in Rome on January 19, surrounded by his loved ones.
Born in Voghera, Italy on May 11, 1932, he showed remarkable artistic talent from an early age, which led him to study drawing and fashion in Paris, where he worked with couturiers such as Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.
Upon returning to Italy, he opened his first atelier on Via Condotti in Rome in 1960, supported by his business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. International success soon followed: his debut show at Florence’s Palazzo Pitti in 1962 marked his breakthrough, establishing him as an undisputed standard-bearer of Italian fashion worldwide. In 1968, the famous “V” logo was introduced, later becoming the emblem of the maison. Equally iconic is his signature red, inspired by a gown he saw at the opera in his youth, which made this shade a defining hallmark of the house.
Valentino Garavani announced his retirement in 2007, at the age of 75, with a final show celebrating his extraordinary career. His legacy is also chronicled in the 2008 documentary directed by Matt Tyrnauer: “Valentino: The Last Emperor.”
Garavani’s lying in state will be held at PM23, Piazza Mignanelli 23 in Rome, on Wednesday and Thursday, January 21 and 22, 2026, from 11:00 to 18:00. The funeral will take place on Friday, January 23, 2026, at 11:00, at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Piazza della Repubblica 8, Rome.
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Trump last week announced he would impose a new round of higher tariffs on several EU members starting February 1 as the latter did not support US demand to buy Greenland from Denmark.
EU diplomats have agreed to accelerate efforts to dissuade President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European allies, while preparing retaliatory measures.
European Council President Antonio Costa consulted members on the Greenland issue and said he would convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council in the coming days.
The bloc is committed to defend itself against any form of coercion, he said.
“NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that ‘you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland’,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!!”
European Council President Antonio Costa consulted member states on the latest tensions over Greenland and issued a statement saying such tariffs would undermine trans-Atlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-US trade agreement. He reconfirmed the bloc’s strong commitment to defend it against any form of coercion.
Expressing the bloc’s readiness to continue engaging constructively with the United States on all issues of common interest, he said he would convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council in the coming days.
“Europe will not be blackmailed,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.
An option being reportedly considered is a package of tariffs on €93 billion worth of US imports that could automatically take effect on February 6 following the expiry of a six-month pause.
Another involves deploying the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), a never-used tool that could restrict access to public tenders, investments or banking activity and limit trade in services, including digital services, where the United States runs a surplus with the bloc.
After speaking to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen asserted EU commitment to upholding the sovereignty of Greenland and Denmark and posted on X: “We will always protect our strategic economic and security interests”.
“We will face these challenges to our European solidarity with steadiness and resolve,” she said.
“No intimidation or threat will influence us—whether in Ukraine, in Greenland or elsewhere in the world,” Macron wrote on X. “Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond in a united and coordinated manner if they are confirmed,” he wrote.
“We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
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