Coimbatore: The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) will on Thursday conduct a meeting of associations in the textile sector to gather their demands and present it to the Centre, representatives said here on Monday.

CITI chairman T Rajkumar said they would compile the demands of all associations in the textile sector and present it to the ministries of commerce, finance and textiles before October 15.

The new office-bearers of CITI, Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) and Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), at a press briefing, said the Centre should provide incentives and schemes for yarn export. They also requested the Centre to release subsidy dues under schemes such as technology upgradation funds (TUF) scheme, rebate of state levies (RoSL) and rebate of state and central taxes and levies (RoSCTL).

Rajkumar said there were about Rs 12,000crore dues under the TUF scheme.

“This has been accrued over the past six years. This has caused a capital crunch. There have been instances where the funds were not used properly. But it is just 4% to 5%. The Centre should release the funds,” he said.

The representatives also said due to the US-China trade war, yarn imports from India were hit. “Yarn exports declined by 35% during April and August this year. The average monthly yarn export was 100 million kg. But in July, it had come down to 58 million kg,” said K V Srinivasan, Texprocil chairman.

Aswhin Chandran, chairman of SIMA, said the state should not curtail open access to industrial units having less than 1MW, which was announced in a government order. “This would hit small textile units.”

Banking facility for wind power for textile mills should be continued even after March 2020, the deadline announced by Tangedco, Chandran said. “Old windmills that are performing well should not be removed. They must be let to operate. If they are removed, we cannot invest to replace them,” he added

Published On : 24-09-2019

Source : Times of India