The much-awaited top-level meeting convened by the Commerce, Industry and Textiles Minister, Mr. Anand Sharma, to discuss with industry leaders the general slowdown hitting all sectors, particularly textiles, turned out to be a routine session in which he just reiterated the need for greater Government-industry co-operation to work out a joint strategy to end the crisis, and did nothing else. Of course, he did admit that the US slowdown and the Euro-zone debt crisis did impact industrial growth and exports of economies around the world, including India. Based on his earlier statement that the Government had fixed an export target of $33 billion for the textile sector next year against the current year’s $28 billion, textile circles did expect the Minister to come out with some concrete proposal for the industry revival, but were disappointed.
Textiles, the biggest exchange earner for the country and the largest employment provider, next only to the Railways, is considered a priority sector. In fact, the Government has set up six high-level inter-ministerial committees with representatives from different ministries and departments, including the Planning Commission, to review the industry performance. The reason why Mr. Sharma couldn’t announce a clear-cut policy approach for the industry at the meeting is perhaps his realisation that it is most difficult to initiate anything positive when the economy is in the grip of uncertainties.
There is growing concern over the general industrial slump. Industrial growth slowed to 5.1 per cent in October this year compared with a robust expansion of 11.3 per cent in the same month in 2010. Export growth dipped to 44.25 per cent in August and to 10.8 per cent in October from a high of 82 per cent in July. In highly volatile trading, the rupee is now ruling at a low of 54.30 to a dollar. Rupee value stabilisation is very remote considering the continued withdrawal of FDI and investors turning towards the dollar following the debt crisis faced by European countries. With the Opposition grilling the Government on various issues and political parties shifting allegiances at the central level, managing the economy is indeed an uphill task for the Manmohan team. The future of the economy is really grim.