Pakistan textile policy to help boost its exports

Pakistan textile exports which presently stand at $13 billion likely to see a boost with the implementation of textile policy. The textile policy is likely to be announced in the second week of July. Subsequent to the implementation of textile policy the people will see rapid growth in textile sector of the country and there will be an increase of at least $1 billion in the first year and $2 billion from the second year. The Federal Textile Minister Abbas Khan Afridi said that the government has adopted the policy of giving incentives to the value-added sector of textile industry that will improve the textile exports of the country. They are also going to establish business center in Islamabad where different brands (companies) would be able to establish their offices and that will facilitate foreign buyers to come to one place and meet the vendors and place their orders. . Such centers are established by other countries such as India and China as well, this will directly impact the exports of the country. There is a golden opportunity for Pakistan to increase its exports and they plan to do that as labour cost is increasing in China and the investors are started to move for the cheaper labour markets. Further, to incentivize the textile industry of the country, the government has increased the rebate on textile exports. Earlier the rebate was 3 percent but now it has been increased to 4 per cent and furthermore the government is taking steps to address the sales tax refunds issue of the exporters. Within next 3 months all pending claims of sales tax refund would be cleared. The textile ministry said that he was even in the favour of abolishing sales tax from the textile sector to boost the sector and to curb fraudulent sales tax refund claims. Under Export Finance Scheme of Textile Ministry, interest rate of bank loans for textile industry has also been decreased to 7.5 per cent from earlier 9.5 per cent. The government has also launched the training scheme in value added sector and all the available institutions in Punjab and other provinces will be used for the purpose. The government is also going to establish Model Cotton Trading House in Multan to facilitate the farmers and traders. After the establishment of this facility, it will be very easier for all the stakeholders of cotton business to trade their commodities. The textile ministry is also trying to convince the textile owners to establish 30-40MW power plants jointly which will be run on coal and they will be able to get uninterrupted power supply for their industry and hopefully it will be made possible in near future. Through these plants the electricity will cost no more than Rs 9 per unit. Despite all odds being faced by the ministry, all efforts are put to boost the exports. Unfortunately nobody cared to pay attention to this ministry and Pakistan remained behind other countries in textile exports. Bangladesh that was far behind from Pakistan in textile exports is now exporting textile products worth $26 billion and Pakistan is still standing at $13 billion. It’s time for Pakistan to focus on its textile industry.