The textile industry in Tamil Nadu accounts for one-third of the country’s textile manufacturing facilities, 47 per cent of spinning capacity, 60 per cent of yarn exports and 20 per cent of the powerloom capacity. The State also accounts for 12 per cent of the handloom capacity and 70 per cent of cotton fabric knitting capacity, fetching over Rs. 60,000 crores as forex earnings annually. The industry also provides employment to over 50 lakh persons.
It is against this backdrop that Mr. T. Rajkumar, Chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), has appealed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to announce a “comprehensive textile policy”, to ensure the financial viability and competitiveness of the existing textile manufacturing facilities in the State and also encourage value addition.
According to Mr. Rajkumar, SIMA has been working closely with the State Government as the lead organization to draft the textile policy for the entire textile value chain, right from fibre to finished goods. He has stressed that the Government should take into account the following key points while formulating the new policy:
• Reduction of VAT on cotton textiles from five per cent to two per cent, particularly on cotton and cotton cone yarn.
• Removal of one per cent Market Committee cess on cotton and cotton waste.
• Utilization of wind energy to the maximum extent possible.
• Allocation of adequate funds for cotton cultivation to ensure higher cotton production in the State.
• Provision of five per cent interest subvention for cotton purchase till the State achieves self-sufficiency in cotton.
• Fixation of a separate power tariff for the textile industry on load factor and cost-to-serve basis since it is the only industry which consumes power at a constant load throughout the year to the tune of 900 units per MW as against 300 to 600 units in the case of other industries.
• Offer of various incentives for new investments as in the case of the recent Apparel and Textile Policy of the Andhra Pradesh Government for investments focusing more on wet processing, garmenting, made-ups and technical textiles.
Mr. Rajkumar has welcomed the State Government announcement of the Global Investors Meet to be held during September 9-10 next.