Iran- A Huge Potential Market for Indian Textiles

In the recent past, the import duties with respect to textile fabrics and ready-made garments in Iran have been reduced drastically, as a measure to curb illicit imports. This has also helped the Iranian Government to clear its way towards becoming a part of the World Trade Organisation. On the other hand, India is on the lookout to tap Iran’s markets which seems to have a great potential for apparel & Home textile products.

Given the fact that India’s share in Iran’s textile import is fairly high, and that Iran is looking forward to importing high quality fabrics, Home linen etc  which happens to be India’s strong point, there lies a gargantuan scope for Indian textiles in the Iranian markets.

India is the third largest exporter of cotton textiles to Iran as per the following data :

Iran Import Statistics from World
Commodity: Cotton Textiles
Year To Date: January - December
Rank	Partner Country	Million USD			% Share
		2013	2014	2015	2013	2014	2015
	World	170.44	231.61	171.73	100.00	100.00	100.00
1	China	56.76	91.74	70.75	33.30	39.61	41.20
2	UAE	25.02	39.03	37.26	14.68	16.85	21.69
3	India	30.92	40.54	26.4	18.14	17.50	15.37
4	Turkey	23.68	30.72	26.33	13.89	13.27	15.33
5	S,Korea	4.78	4.4	3.12	2.80	1.90	1.82
6	Italy	0.82	1.62	1.17	0.48	0.70	0.68
7	Pakistan	3.51	1.95	1.13	2.06	0.84	0.66
8	Austria	0.37	0.87	1	0.21	0.38	0.58
9	Taiwan	2.43	11.46	0.96	1.43	4.95	0.56
10	Germany	0.73	0.8	0.95	0.43	0.35	0.55

Source: GTA / Iran Customs

(i)   Iran is a US$ 3 billion market for Textiles & Clothing. Major countries who are supplying textile products to Iran are China, Korea, Germany, Turkey, India etc. India’s market share is around 4% and hence the Iranian market offers substantial scope for Indian exporters.  

(ii) The lifting of international trade sanctions on Iran has opened up vast opportunities for exports of Indian textiles products to Iran including yarns, fabrics, home textiles, garments, etc.  

(iii) Iran has announced that it will resume import of fabrics from countries producing the best quality material.  

(iv) There is good potential for trade with India in raw materials like various fibres and also Cotton and Poly Cotton Yarns.  

(v)As Tehran is a trade centre, there is huge export potential” in Iran.  

(vi)Iran’s GDP is expected to grow by 5pc in the next two years following the lifting of sanctions and exports of textiles to the Iranian market likely to increase in the near future.  

(vii) Limited cotton production in Iran limits production of cotton textiles products like yarn, fabrics and home textiles, thereby, creating demand for imports of these items.

(viii) During the embargo period, no new investments were made especially in the weaving sector. Also the existing production plants have not been modernized. Therefore, there is a gap in demand and supply in Iran particularly for dyed and patterned fabrics and home textiles.