Grand Welcome to the new Union Minister of Textiles
When cotton and man-made fibres are spun on the same system of spinning yarn, when the technology of weaving and processing is same, when the cost of labour, and power is same at a given textile centre and when the cost of finance is same everywhere, how come cotton textiles and clothing march over man-made textiles and clothing in the international market? The answer is simple. Cotton textile industry gets its raw materials at or below the international price. Unfortunately, the man-made textile industry by and large is not getting its inputs at international prices. The international price is the price at which our competitors in other countries get raw materials in their factories. Dr. Kavuru Sambasiva Rao, Union Minister for Textiles
In the recent reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, the burden on Shri Anand Sharma, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry has been lightened by transferring the additional portfolio of textiles, which he held as an interim arrangement. Dr. K.S. Rao has taken over as the Hon’ble Minister of Textiles as of June 19, 2013. TVC is indeed very happy and delighted to convey its best wishes to the new minister. Within a short span of ten days after he was sworn in, the Hon’ble Minister made it a point to interact with all the stakeholders of the industry. The addresses delivered by him at such meetings make it abundantly clear that the Hon’ble Minister is bound to be successful in putting back the textile industry on the fast track, despite sluggish economic climate in the USA and EU, two major importers of textiles. Sooner or later, two major issues will have to be tackled by the Union Ministry of Textiles, under the guidance of the Hon’ble Minister. One issue is how to promote exports of man-made fibre textiles and clothing. At the global level, man-made fibres, with a share of 60% reign in the consumption basket of fibres for the manufacture of textiles and clothing. Despite such a strong preference, man-made fibre textiles and clothing accounted for only 31 % in the Indian export basket, while cotton textiles and clothing accounted for the lion’s share of 69 % in 2012-2013 [April – February]
Various strategies can be thought of to bring domestic prices in alignment with international prices, such as sector-specific scheme for abolition of excise and customs duties on inputs of man-made fibres, withdrawal of excise duty on man-made fibres, retention price scheme etc. The second issue is export policies for different segments of the textile value chain. Once India has accepted the policy of liberalization, the export policy has to be the same for all segments. In other words, the policy set-up cannot be dismantled as per demands of individual segments. The only solution is increased production throughout the value chain. Only in a real crisis situation, a different line of action can be charted. The industry is in the safe hands of the new Hon’ble Minister who considers growth and development of the textile industry as his mission.