The Hindu Business Line : Task force report on textile machinery may be delayed

THE report of the special task force formed by the Centre under the Textile Commissioner to suggest measures to strengthen the domestic textile machinery-manufacturing sector may be delayed.

The report, originally expected to be ready by this April, may not meet the deadline because of the impending elections and may have to wait the formation of the new government at the Centre, according to Mr Sanjiv Lathia, president of the Indian Textile Accessories and Machinery Manufacturers' Association (ITAMMA).

The special task force, besides going into the strengths and weakness of the domestic textile machinery sector in the light of the globalisation of the textile trade and consequent further lowering of the tariff structure, is expected to study the measures needed to put back the domestic textile machinery/engineering sector on a healthy growth path including improving its export competitiveness. The task force has been formed at the instance of the Ministry of Heavy Industry.

Mr Lathia was here to attend a seminar on the export potential for the country's textile accessories and machinery industry held as part of the `Tex Spares 2004' exhibition here recently. Talking to newspersons at the sidelines, he said that besides its crucial task of achieving the required manufacturing strengths to meet the import-substitution for the vast domestic textile machinery market, one of the critical areas of growth trajectory the industry has set for itself is to tap at least 5 per cent of the estimated $20 million world textile machinery/accessories business by 2015. To meet this task, Mr Lathia said the domestic textile machinery manufacturing sector may need to invest anywhere between Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore.

As part of the efforts to tap the export potential for textile equipment and spares, ITAMMA has planned to take a delegation to Vietnam during May-June this year and it is also likely to undertake a delegation to Europe sometime next year. Of the Rs 400-crore textile machinery/accessory exports from India, the share of the spares and accessories remains the largest chunk accounting to a close Rs 250 crore.