Apparel sector stands strong despite removal of GSP+

28 Aug '10

2 min read

A senior government official said that, none of the factories in the country had to be shut down, due to EU withdrawing the General System of Preference Plus (GSP+) facility and neither has the same resulted in retrenchment of workers in any of the factories.

This is also evidenced from the fact that, over 7,400 vacancies still exist in the garment factories approved by the Board of Investment, he said. However, he did accept that some of the factories are being shut, but this is not because of withdrawal of the GSP+ facility, but for other reasons like rising wages, strict labour laws and management clashes, he added.

The official contradicted that, withdrawal of the GSP + facility has led several garment and apparel industries to shut down and stated that, just a couple of such adverse reports are blemishing the country's image.

He said that, the government is not going surrender to any of the conditions imposed by the EU to smear the country's image at any point. He also divulged that, over 70 percent of the domestically manufactured apparel products are being exported to USA.

According to him, the Government would continue negotiating with the EU to reclaim the withdrawn facility, and also would work towards betterment of the quality of the domestic garment and apparel products so as to capture the global market, including EU.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India