• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Vinod Mathew

GANDHINAGAR, July 24

THE Union Minister for Textiles, Mr Kashiram Rana, has called for parity in the cost of power used for fabric manufactured by powerloom sectors across the country.

The States where the tariffs were high needed to extend some kind of incentive to the loom operators as extending direct power subsidies might not be the solution, he said.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Rana made a pointed reference to the powerloom sector of Surat which had been pressing for parity in power tariff vis-a-vis other manufacturing centres, especially Bhiwandi in Maharashtra.

Surat powerloom industry employs some 1.25 lakh workers. Other States such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were wooing away the powerloom sector and Gujarat needed to retain its base, he said.

``The Gujarat Government should give some kind of incentive to its powerloom sector to bring parity in production cost with other States. There needs to be parity in such a significant cost component as power just as one needs to cut costs on all fronts. At the same time one should not forget that the quality of power is much better in Gujarat with almost uninterrupted power supply as against in Maharashtra where continuous supply rarely transcends 4-5 hours'', Mr Rana said.

The Surat industry has been demanding that the State Government fix its power tariff at Rs 185 per loom per month. This, they said, was needed, as they were incurring a power cost of Rs 1.25 to Rs 1.40 per metre of fabric as against their Maharashtra counterparts' cost of Rs 0.80 per metre. The State Government's response is hanging fire as acceding to such a demand is likely to open a floodgate from industries such as plastic processing and diamond cutting and polishing.

``The Ministry of Textiles, under the integrated cotton cultivation programme, has tied up with five villages in Bharuch to take up contract farming. We are also considering a few villages in Saurashtra. With the South Indian spinners showing a partiality to Gujarat grown cotton, this programme of tying up the buyers with the farmers at a guaranteed price is poised to catch up this season. The seeds, specific to the buyers' requirement, would be supplied by the Ministry'', Mr Rana said.

The Minister brushed aside concerns that the two designated garment parks in Surat and Ahmedabad would not translate into much investment, given the presence of the much cheaper unorganised sector in the near vicinity. On the contrary, apparel manufacturers from different parts of the country were keen to put up units in these two centres given the proximity to raw material — both cotton and polyester, he said.

The State Government is at an advanced stage of allocating 100 acres of land in the Sachin industrial estate near Surat for the garment park. Meanwhile, the apparels park in Ahmedabad is likely to be a joint sector one with some of the denim majors in the country such as Arvind Mills and Ashima Syntex joining the Government initiative.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
`India right on development track'

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line