Recently, a delegation from the Indian textile industry met Santosh Kumar Gangwar, minister of state for textiles to apprise him of the current as well as post budget scenario of the textile industry.
The delegation was made-up of OP Lohia, CMD of Indo Rama Synthetics, Madhu Sudhan Bhageria, MD of Filatex India Ltd and others honchos from the textile sector.
Lohia requested the minister to ensure that the textile industry is kept in the lowest slab in GST, which is expected to be in place by next year, since it is the second largest employment provider in India.
The minister was told that while the textile industry was expecting a strong focus from the Government, there was however, no mention of it and nothing was done in the Budget to improve the health of the sector.
According to the delegation, the man-made industry was expecting reduction of excise duty from 12.36 per cent to 6 per cent, but instead it was increased to 12.50 per cent.
As per a press release, the allocation of TUFS was also not there as per recommendation given by all textile industry associations including FICCI, CITI, etc.
In order to support the ‘Make in India’ program, he emphasised that the need of the hour is to focus on the textile industry to boost its production capabilities.
“The man-made fibre segment requires special attention, as major growth in the industry, can come only from MMF,” the minister was told.
Lohia stressed that if we do not focus now, other countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan will grow faster than India in this area.
Lohia expressed concern over the reduction in exports of textile goods over the last few months and suggested on export of textile apparel and garments so that the entire value chain benefits.
The minister assured the delegation that he would look into all these matters and bring growth in the textile sector, so that it can achieve its desired position both in domestic and export market.
