A large Indian export base, now facing zero-duty EU access and rising sustainability disclosure pressure at the same time.
Book a 30-minute callThis sector runs almost entirely in one direction, Indian manufacturing capacity feeding European demand, rather than European companies entering India's domestic textile market. The real India-side opportunity for European partners sits in supply chain technology, sustainable dyeing and finishing processes, and traceability systems that Indian manufacturers increasingly need to sell into Europe at all.
India's apparel exports to the EU hit a record $4.66 billion in FY 2025-26, and the new trade agreement now gives zero-duty access across every textile and clothing tariff line, tariffs that previously ran up to 12 percent. That's real money, but European buyers are increasingly screening on sustainability credentials as hard as price, the EU's digital product passport requirements and broader disclosure expectations mean Indian exporters now have to prove their supply chain, not just quote a competitive number.
Textile exports fall under standard export documentation and quality certification regimes; no CBAM or BIS-equivalent mandatory certification currently applies to finished garments specifically.
Textiles sit outside CBAM's scope entirely, the compliance pressure here comes from the EU's broader sustainability disclosure framework, digital product passports and supply chain transparency requirements that are becoming purchase conditions with major European buyers even where they aren't yet hard legal mandates for every product category.