Mr
Dayanidhi Maran, Union Textile Minister, informed that the textile
industry is first to come out of recession among other industries in
India. Mr Maran was speaking at the Textile Industry Roundtable
organized by CII in Mumbai.” There is speculation in
the industry that profits have been shrinking. Recession was in India
for just nine months. Now most of the companies are posting profits but
there is still scope for improvement the Minister said. Currently, more
than 50% of production is exported, but the industry also needs to
focus on the domestic market, Mr Maran said..
“Speaking on the issues
faced by the industry, the Minister said that the legacy issues have to
be overcome and the industry needs to look at aggressive investments in
order to meet the challenges posed by competing countries like China..
“The Minister clarified
that the government does not have a large role to play since the
stimulus was announced and what is required is new ideas, which would
help the competitiveness of the industry as a whole..
“Mr Maran said that the
government has provided stimulus packages to the industry as and when
they were required. During recession, within 72 hours, a stimulus
package was given to the industry. “About 70% beneficiaries of the
government funding for capital investment are spinning mills and the
least is garment units whereas, the garments generate maximum
employment,” he added..
“Commenting on the focus of
the Ministry of Textiles, he said that the exports and technical
textiles will be the key focus areas in the future. “However, the
Indian exporters are more dependent on the European and US markets.
Both the markets have tendency of parallel movement and they boom
together and also fall together. Indian exporters should focus on other
big markets also. The entire US import markets fell by 12.04% yet the
Indian exports to the US maintained their share and fell by a smaller
percentage of 7.56%, a similar trend is also seen in the EU market,” Mr
Maran commented..
“On the sector’s growth
plan ahead, he said, “India’s domestic textile consumption is third
largest in the world. In this environment, we have targeted a growth
path at 12% for the next five years and global trade share of 7%. We
have to focus on the rural market. Malls and retail space created by
malls are not the solution to increase the business. The companies in
garments should focus on big rural market too. However, they try to
compete more with the international brands which sell products at very
high prices.”.
“Mr T Kannan, Chairman, CII
National Committee on Textiles and MD of Thiagarajar Mills said that
the industry needs to scale up on productivity through clustering.
Integrated textile parks operating on gas, as the electricity
availability is still an issue and should be set up close to these
clusters.” He also appealed to the Minster to extend TUFs and welcomed
the Textile Minister’s move of encouraging FDI in the industry..
Date:2/17/2010
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