Coimbatore:

Veejay Lakshmi Textiles Ltd of Coimbatore is one among the two export houses in Tamil Nadu that bagged the export awards for 2013-2014 instituted by TEXPROCIL (The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council of India).

The exporters from the state won the bronze medals/trophies for the highest global export category. This year, Texprocil distributed 71 awards based on 29 criteria, including the coveted gold trophy for the highest global exports.

Highlighting the challenges in the sector, chairnman of Texprocil Manikam Ramaswami said, “Indian textile industry, however competitive it may be at present, needs cotton at less than or equal to international prices and needs a level playing field when it comes to tariff barriers to perform to the best of its potential.”

He pointed out that despite India being a cotton surplus country, every year cotton prices go above international prices from February onwards until the new season and this severely impacts competitiveness.

Texprocil has already articulated a revenue positive solution to the ministry and hopes that it will be implemented soon, he said. On the tariff front, India needs to have agreements with the European Union, Canada and Australia, favourable duty in China similar to Pakistan, Bangladesh, who have negotiated reciprocal benefits with China.

India has US dollar 34 billion deficit with over US dollar 12 billion imports taking place at less than 5 per cent duty. Hence, the country should bargain reciprocal benefit for textiles. China exports US dollar 20 billion of textiles and India can improve exports by a huge amount if they get a level playing field, he said. Emphasising the need for implementation of the export incentive policy, he said, “Export of textiles is the only way forward.”

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC Correspondent / September 23rd, 2014