Amid speculation of partial withdrawal of stimulus in the upcoming Union Budget, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran today pitched for continuation of these measures for the textile sector for some more time as it is yet to recover fully.
The industry has been demanding for continuation of the relief provided by the government for some more time.
"Yes, we support the views of the industry and I am sure that the industry views will be considered. It's not that we have jumped out of the recession and running," Maran told reporters after inaugurating the Carpet Export Promotion Council here.
Under the stimulus package, the sector got incentives like refund of import duties on capital goods, service tax refund and announcements for cluster development.
The sector also got interest rate subsidy, but it falls under the Reserve Bank.
The textile exports, which took a beating after October 2008 due to the economic crisis, declined by about 2 per cent to $21.75 billion in 2008-09.
Maran said, "I am sure that the exports in the current fiscal will be minus as textile exports registered an average decline of 15 per cent during April-November 2009 compared to the same period in 2008."
However, he said, "In December and January, the exports grew by 5 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively on a monthly basis."
With few western economies seeing a revival, textile exporters are now getting fresh orders from the US and European markets as inventories in the stores are almost over.
Maran said, "The year 2010-11 will be a stabilising year and 2011 onwards we expect the market to grow."
The US and European countries together account for about 70 per cent of India's textile exports.
The sector, which provides employment to about 3.5 crore people, witnessed thousands of units closures and about seven lakh job losses in 2008-09, according to estimates by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry.
On the performance of carpets exports, the minister said, "Carpet exports are in the positive territory now. The exports grew by about 8 per cent in January on month-on-month basis."
During April-January 2009-10, the carpet exports declined by about 2 per cent to $406.11 million compared to $413.30 million in the same period previous fiscal, according to the Carpet Export Promotion Council.
