TEXPROCIL celebrates achievement of member exporters with annual awards

Mumbai [India], Oct.24 (India-Businesswire India): Smriti Irani, Union Textile Minister, brightened the TEXPROCIL Export Award Function by stating that another special package for Made-ups and Home Textile Sector, similar to Rs. 6000 crore special package announced for garment sector, was under active consideration of the ministry. Thus, the textile industry may be celebrating one more Diwali, after the current Diwali, stated Irani. The minister further stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision of doubling the income of farmers by 2022. "We are happy the farm yield has already increased and the country hopes to become a leading producer of cotton." The event was inaugurated in Mumbai on October 21, 2016 with lighting of traditional lamp by Smriti Irani, who was the chief guest. Dr. Kavita Gupta, Textiles Commissioner, was also present. Irani later distributed the awards for excellence in exports of yarns, fabrics and home textiles. Leading textile companies like Welspun Global Brands Ltd, Vardhman Textiles, Trident Ltd., Alok Industries, Arvind Ltd, Loyal Textiles, GTN Textiles, Premier Mills, Paramount Textiles, SEL Group, Lahoti Overseas among others were some of the recipients of the awards. R K Dalmia, Chairman, Texprocil in his opening remarks congratulated all the award winners for facing the challenges of a slow global demand and intense price pressures to emerge leaders in their respective line of businesses during the year 2015-16. He said that as per a recent WTO forecast, the global trade volumes would rise only by 1.7 percent this year. This would be the slowest increase since the 2008 financial crisis and the first time in 15 years that global trade has grown more slowly than world GDP, he added. R K Dalmia complimented the government on the announcement of the special package of Rs. 6000 crore for the apparel sector which he said was bearing fruit as the September export figures for apparel showed a growth of 12 percent compared to a downward trend for most other sectors. The chairman stressed that this special package also needed to be extended to the made-ups and home textile sector as that sector is equally, if not more labor intensive in comparison to the apparel sector. He also said that it will act as a pull factor for increased consumption of fiber, yarns and fabric produced domestically. Another critical area where the government needs to move with vigor is to expedite the negotiation of Free Trade Agreements with EU, Australia and Canada, he said. In countries like Turkey and China, high discriminatory tariff was posing a challenge in terms of market access into those countries. The chairman pointed out that cotton textiles of HS Chapter 52 was the single largest contributor accounting for almost 20 percent of our exports to China and if duties were reduced they had the potential to reduce India's trade deficit with that country. Besides complimenting the government on the likely introduction of GST from April 2017, R K Dalmia also highlighted the oft repeated request of the industry that raw materials especially cotton should be available at international prices or lower. Finally, Dalmia mentioned that the spinning sector was going through rough times and the sector is looking up to the government for help and support. Inclusion of cotton yarn in the MEIS and extending the interest equalization scheme to merchant exporters will go a long way in reducing the stress levels in the Spinning sector as well as increase in exports. As part of the international promotion campaign for Indian cotton textiles, the Hon'ble Minister released Texprocil's newly designed corporate promotional literature including corporate brochures and pamphlets. TEXPROCIL, the first Export Promotion Council set up in India in the year 1954, and is responsible for promoting exports of cotton textiles. The council is the international face of Indian textiles, a one point stop for those who wish to source textiles from India. It has 3000 members who are engaged in the exports of cotton textiles including yarns, fabrics and home textiles including made ups. (ANI-Businesswire India)