India positive on achieving $50 bn mark in textiles, apparel exports in FY17

With the government announcing a special Rs.6,000 crore package and taking elaborate marketing plans to boost exports. Textile Secretary Rashmi Verma speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of industry body Texprocil held in Mumbai said that they are hopeful of achieving $50 billion mark in exports in the current fiscal as compared to $38 billion exports last year.

The Union Cabinet last week approved special package for the sector with an aim to create one crore new jobs in three years and attract investments of $11 billion while eyeing additional $30 billion in exports.

They are hopeful that their key markets like Europe and US will continue to grow. They are also looking at exploring new markets such as Iran, Russia and South America to expand reach and diversify products. With the opening of new markets, they are hopeful to achieve their export targets.

Rashmi Verma further said that the country is ready to capitalize on falling share of China in textile exports in the international market.

The nation’s market share has slipped to 38 percent from 40 percent due to high wage rate and its entry into high-end tech products.

Commenting on Britain’s exit from the EU, Verma said that they export $10 billion worth of textiles and apparels to European Union of which nearly 23 percent ($2.5 billion) goes to Britain.

Now they are focusing on entering into PTA (preferential trade agreement) with Britain and it is right time to negotiate its terms.

The draft of new textile policy is ready and the package announced last week was a part of it. The policy will go to the Cabinet next month for approval, she added.

Meanwhile, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) today released an Ernst & Young report titled ‘Textile industry as a vehicle of job creation for inclusive growth. The report highlighted the employment potential of the textile sector, especially in rural India. The labour- intensive home textiles segment suffers from tariff disadvantages of 9.6 to 16 per cent in markets like EU and Canada.

Texprocil Chairman R K Dalmia said that despites entering into PTA with Britain it is important to finalize FTAs (free trade agreements) with EU, Australia and Canada in addition to negotiating concessional tariff with China to protect domestic suppliers.