Garment exporters urged to tap potential in Canada

Canadian companies are increasingly looking at sourcing readymade garments from India and Indian apparel manufacturers have huge potential to increase the country’s share in the Canadian market, according to Indian High Commissioner in Canada Ajay Bisaria.

Speaking at India-Canada virtual business-to-business meeting conducted recently by Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), with the support of Indian Embassy, he said, “Looking at the India-Canada corridor, there is a great deal of faith among Canadian companies in the medium and long-term prospects of India, apart from conversations on immediate issues. Today, we have a strategic partnership with Canada which is propelled and fuelled by the economic partnership.”

The High Commissioner said that Canada’s market size for readymade garments is about $10 billion and imports from India of readymade garments is just about $ 318 million, just 3.1% in 2019.

“I think this number can go up tremendously given the huge opportunity. We know that many top quality brands are already sourcing from India,” he said. The meeting had representatives of new buyers too. Mr. Bisaria said that while investments from Canada have so far gone into infrastructure, energy and logistics. A lot will come in multiple other areas, including the huge opportunities in the textile sector.

“There are already 600 active Canadian companies in India. There are 1,000 Canadian companies doing business with India. Even in pandemic times, the overall engagement is about $100 billion if you count trade, investment, remittances and tourism spend. We see this number consistently increasing in the next few years,” he added.

AEPC chairman A. Sakthivel said that Canada is a thrust market for India and continuous efforts have been made by the Council to participate in Apparel Textile Sourcing Fair, Canada regularly. The AEPC has developed a virtual exhibition platform for online virtual showrooms and exhibitions, which is available for on all days of the year, 24X7.