As the Indian textile and apparel industry continues to struggle due to skyrocketing raw material prices, industry leaders remain on their toes for a solution.
A delegation comprising members of National Committee on Textiles and Clothing (NCTC), covering almost the entire textile supply chain, met Union Minister of Textiles Piyush Goyal and submitted a joint memorandum.
They urged for the removal of 11 per cent import duty on cotton, the non-availability of quality cotton in the season and a scheme to support MSMEs to tide over liquidity crisis to protect the whole textile Industry.
Importantly, the Minister has assured to address the issue.
The delegation comprising Raja M. Shanmugham, President, Tirupur Exporters’ Association; T. Rajkumar, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry (CITI), Manoj Patodia, Chairman, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL); Narendra Goenka, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) and Ravi Sam, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) met Piyush Goyal.
The delegation requested the Minister’s immediate intervention to protect the textile industry and also save the jobs of lakhs and lakhs of employees engaged with the industry.
The apparel industry is now pushed into a beleaguered situation due to unprecedented increase in cotton prices, that too in the month of March, hovering around Rs. 95,000 per candy and industry apprehends that with this ongoing trend, the price may touch Rs. 1,00000 per candy in a few days.
Consequently, the spinning mills have increased the yarn price by Rs. 30 per kg on 1 April 2022 and the spiraling effect on the value-added knitwear garment sector is being witnessed now.
The delegation is of the view that the fortune of the textile industry is highly linked with fortune of cotton farmers and unfortunately, the game played by the cotton traders is disturbing the entire textile industry, accessories, dyes and chemical suppliers, exports and employment including banks.
The garment-exporting units have to fulfill the committed export orders for the same price of garments, as buyers are not inclining to increase the prices.
Moreover, the buyers have the option to source garments from our competing countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkey as they enjoy tariff-free advantages in the EU market.
Also, the knitwear-exporting units are now facing the placement of lower quantity orders from buyers compared to the corresponding period of last year owing to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Immediate measures required removal of 11 per cent cotton import duty for duty-free import of 40 lakh bales immediately to stabilise the cotton prices and the measure would not affect the cotton farmers; imposition of mandatory declaration of cotton stock with all stakeholders to curb the hoarding and speculation by the traders under MCX and NCDEX; announcement of a specified scheme for MSMEs like ECLGS to bailout the knitwear garment sector,comprising 95 per cent of the units in MSMEs reeling under liquidity crisis and finding it difficult to service their loan to banks and sustain in the business.
Source : https://in.apparelresources.com/