FICCI delegation meets Santosh Gangwar, Minister for Textiles
New Delhi, 2 July 2014: FICCI delegation which met Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Hon’ble Minister for Textiles (Independent Charge) today presented FICCI’s Vision for the industry and urged him to announce the new National Textiles Policy at the earliest.
Mr Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, FICCI Textiles Committee who was part of the delegation said “We have requested the Hon’ble Minister to announce the new policy at the earliest to provide long term road map for the industry. This policy is required to treble the share of India in world’s exports of textiles and also to attract large scale investments in the sector. We are hopeful of an early announcement of the policy by the Government”
FICCI’s Vision is that with the support of the policy industry can achieve a size of $145 billion of export in next ten years. The Expert Committee set up for reviewing the National Textiles Policy (NTP) 2000 and formulating new NTP has set up a target of trebling the share of India in world exports of textiles & clothing. FICCI estimates that this target of trebling the share of India in world exports of textiles & clothing would require our exports to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.1% over the ten year period (assuming world exports in textiles and clothing grow by 5%) to reach the size of $145 billion by end of the policy period. Further, assuming our GDP grows by 7% on an average over the policy period and assuming our domestic textiles industry also grows by 7%, this would mean our textiles industry would be a $278 billion industry. This has potential to create additional employment of 20 million people directly in the sector. Hence, given the bold targets been set by the industry, Government should announce the new policy at the earliest.
Other major issues raised by the members of FICCI delegation with the Hon’ble Minister were:
- Not to levy Compulsory Excise Duty on Branded Garments.
- The industry should be kept in the priority/lowest slab of GST as the industry provides a basic necessity to the masses with large scale employment potential.
- Need for enabling labour laws to achieve the desired targets. Some of the recent changes been proposed by Rajasthan Government are worth considering for the industry
- Government regulation/guidelines are needed to encourage the production and consumption of certain technical textiles in India like increased usage of fire retardant textiles for curtains/upholstery for public places/buildings by mandating standards/amendments of relevant Acts.
FICCI delegation was led by Mr Sidharth Birla, President, FICCI and other members of the delegation were Mr R CM Reddy, CEO & Managing Director, IL&FS Education and Mr S C Kapur, Secretary General, Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry(ASFI).