Crisis Management Cell Set Up In Textiles Ministry

The government today announced the establishment of a crisis management cell in the textiles ministry to address export-related problems for the textiles sector in the wake of the US-led war against Afghanistan and the global slowdown.

"To tackle the immediate problems and restore the confidence of the industry, a crisis management cell is being set up in my ministry, which will be interacting with the exporters to resolve urgent problems in consultation with the concerned central ministries on a time bound basis," textiles minister Kashiram Rana said at the economic editors conference here.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has called a meeting of key ministers including commerce and industry minister Murasoli Maran, finance minister Yashwant Sinha and Rana on October 23 to discuss strategies to reverse the declining textiles exports which accounted for nearly a fourth of the country's merchandise exports of around $ 44 billion last fiscal.

As per latest figures, exports of textiles during the period April-July 2001 has dipped by around 17.3 per cent to $ 3.5 billion against $ 4.2 billion last year.

Rana said the ministry was also working on a long term strategy coinciding with the Tenth Plan period by focusing on removal of constraints to growth and encouraging investments in the textile sector, intensive research and development support and provision of quality infrastructure to enable the industry to face the post 2004 challenges.

"We are putting in place policies and schemes to achieve a compound growth rate of 5.48 per cent in cloth production, 3.1 per capita availability of cloth and 14 per cent in respect of textile exports during the Tenth Plan. Employment in the sector has been projected to grow annually by 5.73 per cent from the present level of 35 million persons," he added.

Rana said the ministry had also met representatives of various export promotion councils on October 15 to discuss the fallout of the attacks on the US and added: "Based on these discussions, fresh initiatives were being evolved".

Terming reduced off-take by major importing countries like the US which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of India's textile exports as the main reason for the dip in textile exports, Rana said the ministry would press for total restoration of drawback rates and removal of the value cap under duty entitlement passbook (DEPB) scheme at the meeting with the Prime Minister.

"We want full restoration of the drawback as well as payment of DEPB worth Rs 2,000 crore due to the Apparel Export Promotion Council, Rs 150 crore to the Silk Export Promotion Council and Rs 35 crore to the Powerloom Export Promotion Council," he said.

The minister, however, said the present slowdown was only a temporary phase and would be overcome soon.