TEXPROCIL, the first Export Promotion Council set up in India in the year 1954, and responsible for promoting Cotton Textile exports from India held a function yesterday at the Hotel Taj Santacruz in Mumbai to release an Ernst Young Study report on “Textile Industry as a vehicle of job creation for inclusive growth”. The event was attended by the leading industry heads in the textile and clothing industry.
In his welcome address Shri R. K. Dalmia, Chairman, Texprocil initially thanked the Secretary for sparing her time and making it for the release of the study report despite her hectic schedule.
The Chairman mentioned that there were 3 objectives in undertaking the study. Firstly, to map the top 20 textile products in demand in major importing countries in comparison to what India is supplying to these markets and thereby analyze reasons for mismatch in demand & supply, if any, and chalk out suitable corrective action to be taken up by the industry.
He also reiterated the importance of finalisation of FTAs with EU, Australia and Canada in addition to negotiation of concessional tariff with China to highlight the impact of business being lost to other competing countries owing to tariff disadvantage faced by the Indian suppliers.
Thirdly, he said that this study was done to clearly bring out the employment potential of the textile sector, especially in rural India by developing non-migratory models of manufacturing like the ‘hub & spoke’ model being popularised in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia & Myanmar.
This study was done by conducting primary research in various production centres and also by one-to-one meetings with manufacturers and exporters of fabric and home textiles in small, medium and large scale sectors, he said.
He mentioned that the study report also confirms that manufacturing of Home Textiles is as labour intensive as garment making and equally suffers the tariff disadvantage of 9.6 % to 16 % in countries like EU and Canada, there by losing business to other competing countries and hence the Home Textile segment should be treated at par with Apparel segment of the value chain.
The Chairman emphasized that the present apparel special package benefit should be extended to Home Textile sector immediately so that the two packages are implemented simultaneously. This will not only lead to substantial increase in employment in rural India but also augment export of Home Textile products.
He concluded by humbly requesting the government to extend support to the textile sector as a whole and in particular, value added product such as Home Textile to achieve growth in exports as well as create more direct jobs in the sector.
Shri M Ramaswamy, immediate past Chairman of the Council in his address gave a brief background on why the study was commissioned and the ideology and philosophy behind undertaking such an extensive study.
He stated that when the new government came into power there were insightful slogans like Make In India, Clean India and Skilling India and the textile industry was the best suited to create the necessary social impact through these programs.
He added that the textile industry was the most labour intensive in the manufacturing sector and inspite of the industry meeting all the objectives of the visionary programs of the government, it was unable to occupy the mind space of the policy makers. It was with this background that Texprocil assigned the study to an international accredited research company so that the results would show that the textile industry with its low cost of operation could create a huge social impact.
The textile industry also reached out to women on the job front in rural areas. He also mentioned that the home textile sector was similar to the garment sector and that headroom for growth in home textile for jobs was much more than the headroom for growth in apparel.
He remarked that Ernst Young based their study on research with many small, medium and big companies, interaction with workers and collected huge amount of data. He hoped that the results of this study would reach the decision and policy makers in the Ministry.
Shri Anurag Malik, Partner EY (Skill development) in his brief presentation said that there were 5 main themes which came out strongly in the Texprocil-EY study report.
First was the size and employment generating capacity of the textile industry. Secondly, he said, the most significant impact of the industry was that it employed many women including married women in rural areas.
The third theme was the movement into non-migratory models like the hub n spoke method successfully employed in Bangladesh Cambodia etc. The fourth theme was the absence of FTAs with EU, Australia and Canada because of which almost 55 lakh jobs are lost due the added exports that would have been generated if the FTAs were signed.
The fifth theme brought out the similarities in process in the home textile sector and the garmenting sector and mentioned that home textile is also labour intensive and helps in the social upliftment thereby impacting poorer segments and other lower strata of society.
Smt Kavita Gupta, Textile Commissioner in her speech said that all schemes and policies are drafted keeping the interests of the industry in mind. She also said that the Hon’ble PM wants to give priority to the textile sector and hence the special package was extended to the apparel industry. She complimented the Secretary Textiles Smt Rashmi Verma for her sincere efforts in playing a major role to push for the various incentives and sops in the special package for apparel. She said that the Ministy of Textiles is always ready to support the industry and be part and parcel of their dreams and vision.
In her address, the Chief Guest of the function Smt Rashmi Verma, Secretary Textiles said that this study report was released at a very appropriate time considering that all schemes and proposals which are placed before the Ministry and Cabinet have emphasis on job creation.
She complimented Texprocil and Ernst Young for carrying out this significant study. The two key findings in the report, she said, were the immense potential of employment generation in the textile and clothing industry and secondly the potential of generating more jobs if FTAs like EU, Australia and Canada are finalized.
She also detailed the specifics of the package given to the apparel sector saying that the garmenting industry worked on very low margins and hence needed a buffer while competing with countries like China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia who enjoyed a zero duty advantage in most of the markets that India exports to.
She also said that the package contained tax incentives and sops so that garmenting units could be compensated for the duties and state levies through duty drawback.
She also mentioned that the capital subsidy for the apparel sector has been increased by an additional 10% thereby making the total capital subsidy to 25%.
On FTAs she said that the government has already started the process of reviewing the existing FTAs and is also seriously negotiating the FTAs with EU, Australia and Canada.
On the recent Brexit issue, Smt R Verma said that the time is right for India to sign a separate bilateral agreement with Great Britain and the process for starting a dialogue is already on.
She mentioned that the made-ups sector is also as important as the garment sector as it was both labour intensive and also created many jobs especially for women. The home textile segment was significant as it not only created jobs but also fostered demand for downstream products like yarns and fabrics.
Finally she said that the draft textile policy will be soon placed before the cabinet and the home textile sector can also look forward to a package similar to what is extended to the apparel sector.
Photo Caption: Seen from left to right, Mr. Anurag Malik of Ernst & Young, Mr. Ujwal Lahoti, Vice Chairman -Texprocil, Mr. R.K.Dalmia, Chairman - Texprocil, Ms. Rashmi Verma - Secretary Textile, Ms. Kavita Gupta - Textile Commissioner, Mr. Manika Ramswamy, immediate Past Chairman – Texprocil, Mr. Siddhartha Rajagopal, ED – Texprocil
No comments:
Post a Comment