K.S. Rao cites industry’s huge job creation potential

The Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) Awards 2012-13 were presented to outstanding export performers in the cotton textile industry at a grand function presided over by the Textiles Minister, Dr. Kavuru Sambasiva Rao, held in Chennai on December 7.

In his special address, Dr. Rao said that the textile industry alone can create millions of jobs for the uneducated, unskilled persons across India, and therefore urged exporters to at least train 1,000 people each with their infrastructure. By doing so the number of people seeking jobs from the Government would come down.

He also encouraged industrialists who have been depending on foreign machinery suppliers to start manufacturing machines in India jointly with their collaborators, since the cost of local labour is much cheaper.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr. Manikam Ramaswamy, Texprocil Chairman, thanked the Minister and the officials for resolving several long-pending issues such as TUF loans, transparent sales policy through E-auction of cotton by the Cotton Corporation of India, stable policies that encourage competitiveness, etc.

This year 57 Texprocil awards were presented for 13 different categories of yarns, fabrics and made-ups. Top industrialists from leading textile manufacturing companies like Welspun Global Brands Ltd., Alok Industries Ltd., Arvind Ltd., Loyal Textiles, GTN Textiles, Premier Textiles, Paramount Textiles Mills, Vardhman Textiles, Eurotex and Winsome Textiles and leading merchants like Kikani Exports, Lahoti Overseas and Nagareeka Exports were some of the award recipients.

Since inception in 1954 as an autonomous, non-profit export promotion body, Texprocil has become the international face of Indian cotton textiles successfully facilitating exports around the world. For the foreign buyers, it has opened the entire range of Indian cotton yarns, fabrics and made-ups and has become the one-stop source for these products, while for the discerning Indian sellers it has brought the opportunities offered by the global market. The ever-increasing quantum of exports and diversity of the markets explored bear testimony to the success of Texprocil, which has 3,500 members engaged in exporting cotton yarns, fabrics & made-ups, and home textiles.

The cotton textiles industry has been performing well and is all set to achieve the ambitious target of $12 billion in 2013-14. In 2012-13, the industry achieved trade levels close to $10 billion with made-ups forming a major chunk of exports at $4.4 billion, followed by yarns worth $3.5 billion and with fabrics worth $2 billion. This excellent growth comes at a time even when certain other major economies in the world are going through a recessionary phase. The future is indeed bright for the cotton textile industry, and the exporters are leaving no stone unturned to achieve this ambitious growth.

The first in the series of Texprocil annual awards was instituted in 1975-76. Since then these awards have acquired a special status, and the winners are looked upon as the cream of the exporting community. The expansion of the awards scheme from 1993-94 covers institution of a special gold trophy for highest global exports common to all categories to honour the single most meritorious export performer. Exporters keenly compete with each other to bag the prestigious awards every year, which have thus helped in inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among them.