At the recently held Texprocil Awards, Indian Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani announced that made-ups and home textile segment is under consideration of being covered under the Rs. 6,000-crore special package recently approved for the garment sector, which had been excluded from its ambit. An announcement for the same is likely to be made around Diwali, added the Minister in her address.
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The Minister further stated that the made-ups and home textile segment is equally, if not more labour-intensive than the apparel sector, and has the capability of generating sizeable new employment opportunities. At the same time, it will act as a pull factor for increased consumption of fibres, yarns and fabrics produced domestically.
Adding to that, R K Dalmia, Chairman, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil), stated that the Special Package for the apparel sector is the right step given the current scenario of world trade and international competitiveness. The reimbursements of State and Central levies along with labour reforms will strengthen the textile sector by improving its cost competitiveness in the global market, he added.
Since the textile industry is considered to have a low margin, introduction of such packages can lead to an exponential leap in export performance. This can be seen from the fact that in September 2016 export of garments showed a 12 per cent growth amid a downward trend in most other sectors.
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Discussing trade relations with other countries, the Chairman averred that the Government needs to move fast to accelerate the negotiation of FTA’s with EU, Australia and Canada, while adding that high and discriminatory import duties on textiles sourced from India in major markets like China and Turkey also pose a challenge.
