The Hindu Business Line : Centre eyes 15% rise in textile exports in current fiscal

“Textile exports for 2007-08 registered a growth of 10 per cent over the previous year, despite growth being impacted by the sharp rise in value of rupee against the dollar.”

Mr Shankersinh Vaghela

Our Bureau

New Delhi, April 23 The Centre is eyeing a 15-per cent growth in textile exports during the current fiscal, despite exports having fallen short of the $25-billion target set for 2007-08.

Hit by an appreciating rupee, textile exports for the last fiscal were recorded at $20.5 billion, way below the targeted $25 billion.

“Textile exports for 2007-08 registered a growth of 10 per cent over the previous year, despite growth being impacted by the sharp rise in value of rupee against the dollar,” the Textile Minister, Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, told reporters on the sidelines of an FICCI seminar on technical textiles.

“The currencies of neighbouring countries also did not rise so much,” he said, referring to regional competitors such as China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

While no official target has been fixed for the current year, the Government expects a 15-per cent growth in exports in the current fiscal over the previous year.

“We saw January and February growth at 8.5 per cent. That makes us optimistic. We are looking for a good year,” the Textile Commissioner, Mr J.N. Singh, said.

Govt moves

Earlier, speaking at the function, the Textile Secretary, Mr A.K. Singh, said the Government is in the process of constituting an inter-Ministerial committee comprising representatives of the Ministries of Road and Transport, Defence, Health and Family Welfare, Home Affairs and Environment to examine the feasibility of a regulatory framework for use of technical textiles.

With a view to providing infrastructural support for technical textiles, the Government also proposes to set up four centres of excellence within the next six months.

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