Meetings held at six textile clusters across country
As part of its efforts to bring together all the industry associations related to the textile sector and present a common memorandum to the Union Government, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) organised a meeting here on Thursday in which representatives of 29 organisations from south India took part.
Spinners, handloom and powerloom weavers, textile processors, and garment manufacturers took part. A common memorandum will be finalised after a meeting in Mumbai on Saturday and will be presented to the Union Government next week, said T. Rajkumar, chairman of CITI.
The CITI has, so far, organised such meetings in six textile clusters in the country. “We had assured the Union Finance and Commerce Ministers that we will come out with a common memorandum. This exercise is to arrive at a consensus among all segments of the industry soon on the immediate needs,” Mr. Rajkumar said.
Since the textile and clothing sector is fragmented, the aim is to arrive at common demands that will benefit the entire industry and present those to the Government. There are opportunities in the man-made fibre segment. But the industry is unable to tap it because of the inverted duty structure under GST. When the industry has excess yarn production capacity, the Government needs to support yarn exports. “And, we need debt restructuring to protect the existing industries,” he said.
“We are in a situation where the industry needs a special package. Cotton yarn exports declined 36 % between April and July this year compared to the corresponding period last year; there is no clarity on MEIS; and almost 45 % of industries across the textile value chain need a debt restructuring package,” he pointed out.
The Union Government gave a stimulus package in 2008-2009 and in 2011, the Reserve Bank of India issued a circular so that banks could consider debt restructuring on a case-to-case basis. At least such a circular should be issued now, he said.
Published On : 27-09-2019
Source : The Hindu
