Ludhiana: Nearly two months after the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into force, Punjab industrialists state that local industry—particularly its micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)—must step up efforts to capitalise on export opportunities by mastering new compliance, documentation, and certification standards.Although the trade pact was announced in 2025 with advance warnings to prepare, business leaders emphasise that MSMEs lack dedicated export-compliance teams. They are urging the state govt to conduct workshops and awareness drives to explain the practical export norms required under the agreement.Industrialists noted that while international client queries have begun, converting them into actual business requires structural readiness across major regional sectors, including knitwear, textiles, bicycles, and engineering goods.Amit Jain, chairman of CII Punjab, urged strategic planning for this and future global trade pacts.“We have requested Invest Punjab to put down on white paper how Punjab can benefit and the steps that must be taken to benefit from the FTAs, including the one with the UK,” Jain said.Harish Dua, Punjab chairman of the Bhartiya Exporters Forum, stressed the need for local clusters to unite against rising domestic competition from textile hubs like Tiruppur and Noida.“Industry in Punjab and Ludhiana needs to come together. As a forum, we are organising workshops, but MSMEs need to act proactively to learn the processes, rules and regulations and complete the documentation so that they can take advantage,” Dua said.“If Ludhiana industry is to maintain its position as a knitwear and hosiery hub, it needs to get proactive, form clusters and act together to take advantage of the opportunities,” he added.Honey Sethi, general secretary of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU), confirmed that trade interest is picking up despite the adjustment period.“Conversations and queries from clients in other countries have begun, so things are expected to materialise in the coming months. For that, we need to make sure that industry comes together and stands for one another rather than competing with each other,” Sethi said.
