'Govts have to be more proactive on policy initiatives'

The central and state governments need to be more proactive with policy initiatives towards sustaining the existing traditional industries, president of Indian Cotton Federation J Thulasidharan said on Sunday.

Textile is the mother industry of the country with employment potential, economy build-up and monitory mechanism with a platform for regular interaction with stakeholders, big or small, is the need of the hour, he said in his address to the 40th annual general meeting of the federation.

The initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' have given opportunities to foreign companies and domestic ones to do business, in line with the UN resolution for the millennium development goals, he said.

This would uplift rural and urban India, he said referring to US President Donald Trump categorizing India as a developed nation instead of a developing nation.

Liberal policies of the government of India such as rationalisation of GST (goods and services tax) has helped to a larger extent, yet more simplification was required, he said.

Stating that grading and classing of cotton needed a close look, the federation president said once quality was assured, India can move to the next stage of branding of Indian cotton like the supima (superior cotton grown in the US) of the USA'