Industry leaders urge Textile Minister to come up with ECLGS-like scheme for MSMEs in knitwear sector

New Delhi, April 5 (KNN) The industry leaders from Textile sector have urged the Union Textile Minister Piyush Goyal to launch ECLGS-like scheme for MSMEs to help units in knitwear sector to overcome liquidity crisis.  

A delegation comprising of chiefs of Tirupur Exporters’ Association, CITI, TEXPROCIL, AEPC and SIMA met Textile Minister Goyal in an attempt to bring the government’s attention to the struggles being faced by the Indian textile and apparel industry due to rapidly increasing raw material prices.

They have also requested the government to remove the 11 per cent import duty on cotton.

The Minister has assured the leaders to address the issue as they put forward their request in a form of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

An immediate government intervention has been called by the industry leaders to protect the textile industry and also save jobs of lakhs of employees engaged with the industry.

The delegation is of the view that the fortune of the textile industry is highly linked with fortune of cotton farmers and unfortunately, the game played by the cotton traders is disturbing the entire textile industry, accessories, dyes and chemical suppliers, exports and employment including banks.

The garment-exporting units have to fulfil the committed export orders for the same price of garments, as buyers are not inclining to increase the prices.

Moreover, the buyers have the option to source garments from our competing countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkey as they enjoy tariff-free advantages in the EU market.

Owing to the impact of Russia-Ukraine war the knitwear-exporting units are now facing the placement of lower quantity orders from buyers compared to the corresponding period of last year. (KNN Bureau)