The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) plans to appeal to the new government to provide policy support to the textile and clothing (T&C) industry.
CITI Chairman Sanjay K Jain said the T&C sector went through a phase of consolidation with stagnating exports,demonetisation, bank restructuring and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
India, which was the second largest exporter of T&C between 2014 and 2017 after China, slipped to the fifth place losing its position to Germany, Bangladesh and Vietnam. T&C exports fell from $38.60 billion in 2014 to $37.12 billion in 2018, while imports increased from $5.85 billion to $7.31 billion during the same period.
Also read:Textile industry needs flexible labour laws,more favourable free-trade pacts: expert panel
The textile industry looks to start a golden era to realise its true potential, he said highlighting the steps the new government will have to take to make T&C a $350-billion industry in the next five years.
White Paper
CITI has come out with a White Paper on the T&C industry, entailing both general and sector-specific suggestions, Jain said, while appealing for immediate intervention on issues related to TUFS guidelines and clearance of all pending subsidies in a time- bound manner; extending RoSCTL benefit across the entire textile value chain; launch of TMC II (Technology Mission on Cotton) at the earliest; introduction of direct subsidy to cotton farmers; announcement of national fibre policy; mission mode approach for promoting the man-made fibre sector; reducing hank yarn obligation by half to 15 per cent; negotiating FTAs with developed and large markets like EU, Australia, Canada and Britain; ensuring level-playing field against competing countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and addressing issues related to GST.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.