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Our Bureau

Flexibility will boost competitiveness, capacity utilisation, says Vaghela

New Delhi , Aug. 24

The Union Textile Minister, Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela, today said the Government would take a decision to amend the labour laws in the textile industry by the end of this calendar year as discussions with all the stakeholders have been launched.

Addressing a seminar here on labour laws for textile and clothing industry, organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), the Minister said the reforms would cover flexibility to textile exporting units in hiring of labour subject to assuring a minimum of 100 days' employment to cater to variations in demand, raising the weekly work limit to 60 hours with flexible daily hourly requirements, treating export activity as a public utility service for the purpose of industry disputes and administering flexibility in employment of labourers in a transparent way. Mr Vaghela said the Government acknowledges the need for flexibility in labour laws to further enhance the competitiveness of the industry so that it could fully utilise the capacity and the opportunities.

It is also simultaneously expected to take care of the workers' interests, he added. The CITI Chairman, Mr Hiren Shah, said that CITI is convinced that the growth in textile and clothing sector must be garment-driven and export-led.

Even as the industry needs to harness the areas of strength and leverage them to upgrade production facilities, "unworkable labour laws are one of the major factors that prevent this process, especially in the clothing industry".

Stating that the sector currently employs over 35 million workers directly, Mr Shah said that CITI's vision statement shows that the industry has the potential to grow from $36 billion in 2002 to $85 billion by 2010.

"If this potential is converted into reality, we can find employment for over 39 million workers currently remain unemployed in the country. If we can make even some minor adjustments in the labour laws in order to facilitate need-based deployment of workforce, outsourcing of non-core activities and closing down unviable units, there will be a win-win situation for workers, investors and the economy as a whole", Mr Shah said.

Related Stories:
`Labour reforms vital for textile industry'
Flexible labour law for textiles on anvil

More Stories on : Textiles | Labour Reforms

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