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Golden Period for Indian Textiles Industry, says K S Rao

‘I truly believe this is the golden period for the Indian textiles industry’ stated Union Minister for Textiles K S Rao while inaugurating the 5th edition of FICCI-TAG 2013 summit in Mumbai. Rao further mentioned that although the textile industry is facing certain challenges in terms of skilled manpower, uninterrupted power supply and fluctuation in prices of cotton and yarn, he suggested that the industry should also take initiatives on their own such as setting up of captive power plants, training facilities and R&D centre with the help of central and state government.

Rao added that labor laws need to be revised and 24 hours work shift and night shift for women should be permitted in T&A Industry as permitted in IT & ITeS Industries. Zohra Chatterji, Secretary-Textiles, said that the continuation of key government schemes such as Technology Upgradation Funds scheme (TUFS), with an additional allocation of Rs 11,952 crores as per the 12th Five Year Plan will propel investment of more than Rs 2 lakh crores. 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. Chatterji was happy to see FICCI work diligently in Technical Textiles industry, which is growing at a robust growth rate of 20% and expected to reach 1.58 lakh crores 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 state government will soon be coming out with a new scheme, and delink the TUFS with state policy in order to provide more incentives to textile industry and make them globally competitive.

Suresh Kotak, Chairman, Subgroup on Textiles of FICCI Maharashtra state council suggested that in order to maximize the incentives being given by central government for Technical textiles, a clear distinction between technical textiles items from conventional textiles should be done on the basis of HS codes. He also suggested that the latest industry standards should be put in place for technical textile items in order to instill confidence in consumers’ purchase.

Rashesh Shah, Chairman, FICCI Maharashtra State Council said since textile sector is the second largest employment generating industry with indirect employment of 100 million people, it 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.

The Union Minister along with the other dignitaries also released the FICCI-Technopak report on the Textile Industry which focused on ‘Building Competitive Advantage: Challenges & Way Forward’. A B Joshi, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textile also attended this highly interactive event on textiles and apparel.