An investment of about Rs 500 crore is expected in the diversified jute sector which would raise the total diversified jute production from 15 per cent to 25-30 per cent during the ninth plan.
At a press conference yesterday to announce Jute India, textiles joint secretary Vinod Malhotra said that the jute packaging order, which made it mandatory on the sugar and foodgrains sector to pack all their products in jute, and only 50 per cent for the urea sector, has been retained by the cabinet committee for another two years. A decision on reservation for the cement sector has not been taken yet.
According to a PTI report, the joint secretary said that the Union government will hear all concerned parties before deciding on the implementation of the reservation in jute material under the Jute Packaging Material (compulsory use in packing commodities) Act, 1987, in the cement sector. The government had made it mandatory for the cement sector to pack 50 per cent of their produce in jute bags after the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the act. Following an appeal by cement manufacturers against the act in the Supreme Court, the Centre was ordered to hear all the parties and a series of consultative meetings were held.
India accounts for 23-25 per cent of the total global trade in jute, next to only Bangladesh has a 40 per cent share, Malhotra said, adding that total exports from the country have risen from Rs 323 crore in 1992-93 to Rs 700 crore in 1996-97. The figure for 1995-96 was Rs 634 crore.
Jute India is a global event to promote jute products. Malhotra said the show to be held in the capital from October 20 to 22, would aim to demonstrate the resilience of the Indian jute sector in meeting the challenges of producing jute products of international standards, which were now manufactured in the organised and informal jute sectors.
The show would attempt to give exposure to a variety of diversified jute products and would attract foreign buyers, subject experts and technologists and officials of national and international agencies.
An exhibition covering the various sections of the sector packaging, industrial uses, individual consumers, designers, non-governmental organisations, research and development machinery, service institutions, support and promotional organisations and end-users would be held. A jute fashion show would be conducted by the National Institute of Fashion Technology, he said.
Major jute importing countries like USA, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Spain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Russia and Ukraine are expected to participate in the show, he added.
