For Indian clothing exporters, Australia is one of the most promising markets, and many of them, particularly mid-level businesses, are optimistic about this market.
However, a small number of clothing exporters have recently experienced financial loss and lost business possibilities as a result of visa complications.
Many Indian exporters were present at the Global Sourcing Expo event that took place in Melbourne last week. Although a few exporters booked booths, hotels, and plane tickets, they were unable to obtain visas, therefore they were unable to attend the event.
“I faced a loss of more than US $ 3600 as I was hopeful in getting a visa but couldn’t get it. We were expecting good opportunities to meet Australian buyers but were forced to miss out due to visa issues,” said Mukul Khatri, Director, Khatitex, Jaipur. Offering a large range of womenswear and home textile products Khatitex is among India’s leading exporters.
Mukhul also informed that in his circle 4-5 other exporters had a similar visa issue as they were also not able to get visas. No specific reasons were shared with the exporters in this regard.
“Getting an Australian visa is comparatively complicated as it also depends on the travel history. For exporters who haven’t travelled to Australia or countries like the USA earlier, it is now more difficult to get a visa,” Says Arif Kagzi, Owner, Kagzi Export and President of the Jaipur-based Association of Garment Exporters Sitapura (AGES). Arif also shared that similar issues are also encountered with German visas.
He further added that exporters giving recommendation letters from export promotion councils (EPCs) for the visa also did not get any significant help since such recommendation letters are not being taken seriously regarding visa approvals.
“Our EPCs should take the help of Pabitra Margherita, Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Textiles and make sure that exporters who don’t have any country-specific visas, miss business opportunities. This issue requires greater communication among the various stakeholders,” he said.
