In sync with the economic revival, India's textile industry, including exports, has shown an improved performance during the April-November period of the current fiscal, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran said today.
Production of the cloth rose by 10.8 per cent, man-made fibre by 21.3 per cent and yarn 11.8 per cent, respectively in the eight-month period.
After witnessing a big decline of 21.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2009-10, due to the global economic slowdown, the textiles exports turned positive since July showing an increase of 2.92 per cent.
"Though hit by decrease in demand by the US and European Union, the Indian textiles exports showed resilience as compared to its competitors," Maran said at a FICCI function here.
He assured the industry by helping in its demand for a distortion-free Goods and Services Tax. According to a study conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), a distortion-free indirect tax regime like GST could boost exports by 3.2 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
The improvement was visible in the balance sheets of the textiles firms in the quarter ended in the month of September, this fiscal.
Weaving companies posted a sales growth of 19.7 per cent, spinning industry 8.9 per cent, man-made fibre industry 15.7 per cent and ready made garments industry 14.2 per cent.
Maran said, currently many of the local taxes are not refunded to exporters, thereby reducing their competitiveness in the global markets.
Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla pointed out that in this decade, industry would have to gear itself up to take advantage of the global opportunities, move into new areas and address the issues of labour standards and climate change.
He said, there is a need to take up steps to induce foreign investment to scale up production and achieve higher levels of efficiency.
Further, Maran said, the working group on National Fibre Policy, which has representatives from the government, trade and user industry, will submit its recommendations shortly.
The textiles ministry has fixed a growth target of 12 per cent to reach a market size of USD 115 billion in the next five years and a global trade share of 7 per cent.
"If we have to sustain and grow, we need to reorient policy goals by the entire production system," he said.
Secretary in Textiles Ministry Rita Menon said that the Skill Development Scheme, which was developed by the Textiles Ministry, had been approved by the Planning Commission and should be up and running from the next fiscal.
The ministry had developed a skill development scheme with high public-private-partnership content.
