'Indian textile industry should also take own initiatives'

14 Oct '13

3 min read

The Indian textile industry should also take initiatives on its own for setting up of captive power plants, training facilities and R&D centre with the help of central and state governments to mitigate the situation, Textiles Minister K Sambasiva Rao said at the 5th edition of FICCI-TAG 2013 summit in Mumbai.

Inaugurating the annual conference TAG 2013 with a theme on ‘Building Competitive Advantage: Challenges & Way Forward’, the Minister said although the Indian textile industry is facing certain challenges in terms of skilled manpower, uninterrupted power supply and fluctuation in prices of cotton and yarn, the present period can be termed as the golden period for the industry.

He stressed on the need for revision of labour laws to allow 24 hour work shift and night shift for women in textile and apparel sector, as permitted in Information Technology (IT) and IT enabled Services (ITeS) industries.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Zohra Chatterji, Secretary, Textiles, Government of India, said the continuation of key Government schemes such as Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme (TUFS), with an additional allocation of Rs. 119.52 billion as per the 12th Five Year Plan will propel investment of over Rs. 20 billion.

She added that the Ministry of Textiles has also launched Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS), with a target of training 10 million people by 2022 in the textiles industry.

She appreciated FICCI’s diligent work in Technical Textiles industry, which is growing at a robust growth rate of 20 percent and expected to reach Rs. 15.8 billion by 2016-17.

Manoj Saunik, Principal Secretary – Textile, Government of Maharashtra, stated that the main feature of the new Maharashtra Textile Policy is the provision of interest subsidy over and above all subsidies being provided by Central Government schemes.

He informed that the Maharashtra government will soon be coming out with a new scheme, and delink the TUFS with state policy in order to provide more incentives to the textile industry and make it globally competitive.

Rashesh Shah, chairman, FICCI Maharashtra State Council, suggested that the textile sector should be given status of “Priority Sector” so that the amount to fund its expansion plans, which is around US$ 60 billion, can be accessed through banking and financial institutions.

Suresh Kotak, chairman, Subgroup on Textiles of FICCI Maharashtra State Council suggested that a clear distinction between technical textiles items from conventional textiles should be done on the basis of HS codes, in order to maximize the incentives being given by the Central Government for Technical textiles.

The Indian textile and apparel industry, which includes both domestic market and exports, is projected to grow at 8.7% CAGR to reach US$ 210 billion by 2022.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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