Textile industry told to diversify to polyester to boost exports
by Our BureauRavi Capoor, Secretary (Textiles), has urged the industry to diversify to polyester textile products to boost exports.
His advice follows the government’s decision to abolish anti-dumping duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), a key raw material for polyester textiles, in the recent Budget.
With the global textile market for man-made fibre on the rise, it would make sense only if India moved in that direction.
A level playing field has been created by abolishing the anti-dumping duty on PTA, Capoor said, at an interactive meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI).
Office bearers of 48 textile associations in South India participated in the discussion.
Besides appreciating the sustainable initiatives taken by Tirupur and Coimbatore by implementing zero liquid discharge, Capoor advised the Tirupur Knitwear Cluster to brand its garments and products under sustainable programme as this would help fetch larger margins globally. The Government would extend all necessary support to promote the brand, he added.
Capoor also hinted that the Government would address all the structural issues in its new National Textile Policy and initiate efforts to expedite conclusion of FTAs with EU, UK and other countries to boost the exports.
CITI Chairman T Rajkumar, in a release, pointed out that the industry has been facing severe challenges in the aftermath of demonetisation, GST implementation, economic slowdown across the globe, US-China trade war and more recently the coronavirus outbreak in China.
“The domestic market recorded a steady growth, but exports stagnated — registered 4 per cent negative growth during the last four years. China has started cutting down its production, outsourcing and created a huge space in the international market. This opportunity has been fully exploited by small countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam pushing India to the 5th position in the global textile trade, from the 2nd position that it had held for several years,” he said.