The Hindu Business Line : Mission on technical textiles soon, says PM

Stitch in time: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, with (from left) the Minister for Textiles, Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, and the Chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, Mr P. D. Patodia, releasing a book on ‘Indian textile industry’ in the Capital on Tuesday. Dr Singh assured that the Government would devise strategies to further promote the growth of the industry.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, March 18 The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has assured the textile industry that the Government would pay the closest attention to the problems currently plaguing the textile industry by devising appropriate strategies to further promote growth and competitiveness of the industry.

Delivering the inaugural address at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), here on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said that the UPA Government has focused on three imperatives namely, the need to ensure a stable policy environment; the need to support modernisation through financing technological upgradation and to help build global brands for Indian textiles.

Recognising the problems faced by the exporters due to the strengthening of the rupee, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the exporters have the enterprise and business acumen to deal with this challenge and improve their competitiveness.

Duty structure

Giving details of fiscal measures taken by the Government to strengthen the textile sector, Dr Singh said that the excise duty structure has been completely transformed with large scale concessions. Customs duty for a number of textile machinery items has been reduced and hosiery and knitwear items have been de-reserved from the small-scale sector. The Technology Upgradation Fund has been extended into the 11th Plan and the scheme for Integrated Textile Parks in public-private partnership mode has also been expanded.

He said that as a result of these measures, the country is also becoming a major outsourcing hub. The Prime Minister reiterated that new growth areas such as technical textiles will be actively promoted and a Technology Mission on Technical Textiles will be launched to support growth in this area.

Stating that the challenge in the 11th Plan was to increase the skill base to make the sector competitive, the Prime Minister said that the National Skill Development Mission has already identified this as a thrust area. He emphasised the need for innovative responses to increase jobs in the country and in the textile industry. He suggested the idea of linking guaranteed employment for a certain number of days in a policy framework that could meet the genuine demands of the sector. He said, “Our Government will come forward and address all your legitimate concerns as long as we can work together to generate more employment.”

“With the dismantling of Multi-Fibre Agreement, there is a new opportunity, but we must make up for the lost time,” he said adding that the textile industry, having a low level of consumption at present, would be one of the major beneficiaries of the boom in consumption likely to follow because of tax cuts in the general Budget.

Need for value addition

Speaking on the occasion, the Textiles Minister, Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, emphasised the need for value addition to the raw materials within the country.

He said the appreciation of the rupee has led to the reduction in textile exports.

To mitigate the problem of the exporters, the Government has announced several fiscal measures in the last one year. With a view to give more benefit to the industry, the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme has been also extended into the 11th Plan, Mr Vaghela added.

The Prime Minister also released a commemorative volume of CITI titled ‘Textiles and Beyond’. coinciding with the Golden Jubilee Celebration.