Maintaining its winning streak at the 2013 edition of the Annual Export Awards organized by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Faridabad-based Shahi Exports won the Highest Global Exports award with an export figures of Rs. 1903.42 crore. Shahi retained its 1st position, followed by Orient Craft with Rs. 1094.92 crore (2nd) and Gokaldas Exports with Rs. 750 crore (3rd), for the Financial Year 2012-13.
Between applause, both the Textile Minister and exporters accepted the fact that it is a matter of serious concern that we are behind Bangladesh which is comparatively a smaller country. Extending a helping hand, K S Rao, Union Textile Minister declared, “For any facility that you think is a must, you are welcome to the Ministry but come with a full plan and details of what the industry and the Government will get in return.”
The Textile Minister in his upfront address raised the issue of sufficient and sincere training, urging the industry to create extra pool of trained workers that will reduce the attrition rate because an operator will be cautious and more productive knowing that there are enough people to take his place. Giving the example of Coimbatore where textile companies are jointly working on their own power plant, he advised all AEPC members to follow the same exclusively for apparel manufacturing. Zohra Chatterji, Secretary (Textiles) congratulated the industry on registering growth of 15.5 per cent from April to October 2013, which she felt would motivate the industry for higher goals.
Assuring the Government of effective efforts to enhance business, Sudhir Sekhri, Chairman Export Promotion, AEPC stated, “In FY 2013-14, we are expected to generate business worth Rs. 270 crore on each Rs. 1 crore what we get under the MAI (Market Access Initiative) scheme, but due to resource crunch we also lost potential business of Rs.1,278 crore. It will be more beneficial if we have sufficient funds for the same under the Ministry of Textiles rather than Ministry of Commerce.”
Dr. A Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC concluded by raising the request of apparel exporters for v5 per cent Duty Credit Scrip for import of those fabrics which are not widely available in India.
