Export of cotton yarn from India has dropped by 35 %, said K.V. Srinivasan, Chairman of Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL), here on Monday.
He said this in a joint press meet of national and regional textile industry bodies – TEXPROCIL, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA). Commending the Remission of Taxes, Duties on Export Products (RoTDEP) recently announced by the Central government as a scheme compatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms, Mr. Srinivasan said that the government policies must “apply to all sectors.”
“Textile sector is not an exception to slowdown,” said T. Rajkumar, Chairman of CITI. A meeting of all the major stakeholders in the textile sector will be convened in Coimbatore city on September 26, following which the revised demands will be submitted to Ministries of Finance, Textiles and Commerce by October 15, Mr. Rajkumar said.
Mr. Rajkumar said that the demands he placed to the Central government included extension of debt restructuring to the textile and clothing sector as given to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and inclusion of cotton yarn under Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) and Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
Ashwin Chandran, Chairman of SIMA, appealed to the Tamil Nadu government that the State's existing energy policies must continue and that Tangedco must not curtail any benefits to textile industries such as proposal to remove old windmills, restricting the open access to power for units utilising less than 1 MW. He added that the State government must also heed to the long-standing demand of cotton textile mills regarding removal of 1 % Agricultural Market Committee Fee on cotton waste. Mr. Chandran noted that in Tamil Nadu, nearly 30 percent of textile capacities are closed for the past six months, leading to the loss of nearly 12 lakh jobs in the State.
