TN CM wants Centre to bring down yarn prices

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said the Centre should take steps to make available the required yarn at reasonable prices by invoking the Textile Control order, besides exercising control over cotton exports and by providing export sops for home textiles.    

He said the Indian Textile Industry was second largest in the country next only to agriculture.     

In Tamil Nadu, textile industry generates huge employment opportunities and contributes significantly to the foreign exchange earning up to Rs 11,000 crore annually.     

The recent rupee appreciation had affected the textile production and had led to unemployment in rural areas of the state, he said.    

In recent months, the yarn prices had gone up by about 10 to 15 per cent and major textile manufacturers and exporters associations had struck work in the state in view of the rising prices, he said.     

Karur in Tamil Nadu was one of the specialised export centres in the country like Kannur in Kerala and Panipet in Haryana, which had been exporting made-up items like bedspreads, table linen, toilet and kitchen coordinates and upholstery products by engaging about 75,000 people, which was one of the worst affected places.     

Tamil Nadu Government had already taken steps to help textile manufacturers in the state and make their textile products competitive by removing sales tax on hank yarn and providing free power up to 500 units bimonthly to each factory at a cost of Rs 120 crore annually, he said.