Textile sector urges govt to take steps to boost exports

Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) today said that export trend in textiles is not very encouraging and has sought the government's support to boost it.
"Exports of cotton textiles during April-August 2015 declined by 2.16 per cent at USD 4.24 billion as compared to same period of the last year. The declining exports trend may continue in FY16 due to subdued China demand and sluggish European economy," Texprocil Chairman R K Dalmia said.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the All India Exporters' Chamber's Platinum Jubilee celebration here today.
"A large part of the reason for the sluggish growth lies in the overall slowing of demand in the overseas markets too. Apart from a general decline in overseas demand, our over-dependence on China especially for cotton and cotton yarn exports, is magnifying the overall decline in our exports as China slows down," Dalmia added.

Further, the high cost of export finance which is around 10 per cent in India compared with 3-4 per cent in competing countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan is also having an impact on our competitiveness, he said.
Dalmia elaborated on the representations that have been made to the government like the interest rate subvention, re-calibration of the product-market matrix to include exports to emerging markets so that linkages can be strengthened with the value chains in these markets.

Dalmia said that efforts must be accelerated to enhance the competitiveness of India's exports and the government should also expedite conclusion of FTAs with EU, Australia and Canada.

He stressed that dialogues need to be initiated with China and Turkey for reduction of duties on Indian textiles products and we need to take recourse to the review mechanism available under all the FTAs/ CEPAs signed by India in order to create additional market access.
Dalmia added that recent measures of the government like the increase in allocation of funds from Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 21,000 crore under export incentives scheme; Reduction in Repo-Rate; Setting up of Textile Parks and the Relaxation of Coastal Shipping have given a sense of "feel good" to all at a time when the overall global outlook is still in the "recovery mode".

The five year trade policy has provided a necessary framework for increasing exports of goods and services as well as job creation and increasing value addition in the country. Aim was to reach USD 900 billion of merchandise and services exports and the total two-way trade was expected to double from the present USD 1 trillion to USD 2 trillion annually in the next five years. This was a gigantic task considering that global economy was still struggling to gain momentum, All India Exporters' Chamber President Preeti M Sheth said.