New Delhi, April 13 (KNN) The Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA) has urged the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to provide labour intensive MSME driven garment industries an additional 20 per cent loan support under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).

Speaking exclusively with KNN India, Raja Shanmugam said that the 20 per cent additional support would help the MSMEs.

MSMEs make up majority of the readymade garment industry and are currently drained out of liquidity owing to continuous surge in all input costs.

He also pointed out the ongoing economic crisis in neighbouring country of Sri Lanka and said that it is likely to boost the exports of Indian textiles if the government ensures to resolve the existing problems faced by the industry.

The Sri Lankan crisis is an unfortunate period for them but for the top textile and apparel exporting countries like India, Bangladesh, Vietnam etc it holds significant advantage, he added.

Shanmugam said that it is an opportunity similar to the China Plus One strategy provided if India makes use of it otherwise it will be an advantage for India’s competitors again.

Pressing on the issues of continuous surge in yarn and cotton price exceeding international prices Shanmugam stated that this has cornered the Indian textiles to a disadvantageous position.

Calling out the government for creating a level playing field to grab these opportunities, he urged the government to lift the import duty on cotton.

TEA President accused the cotton traders of hoarding cotton stock and manipulate the prices to fleece out money as much as possible.

Once these been done our assurance that Tiruppur alone would double its turnover by 2024 itself, he stated. (KNN/KT)