Industry body the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has recommended deregulation of India’s handloom sector with flexibility in labour laws to help textile economy attract foreign investment.
Assocham has pointed out that the total FDI in the country in the past 15 years stood at Rs 40 billion of which less than Rs 3 billion was approved until recently. And the FDI in domestic textile industry has been very low at about 2.5 per cent. This has happened because domestic textile sector continues to struggle under stringent laws and is yet to be deregulated.
These findings are a result of a study on 'Textile Sector of India’ undertaken by Assocham.
The study also suggests that India has inherent strengths which can be capitalised on strong raw material base of cotton, man-made fibers, jute, silk, large production capacity (with 21 per cent of world's spinning capacity and 33 per cent of the world's weaving capacity) vast pool of skilled manpower, entrepreneurship, flexibility in production process and long experience with the US and European markets.
