(a) whether several textile related industries across the country including Tamil Nadu are facing laborious downturn during the recent past;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor and action taken by the Government to redress the issue;
(c) whether the Government has conducted State-wise survey regarding the condition of the textile-based industries in the country; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
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MINISTER OF TEXTILES
(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) & (b) With a view to boost textiles sector in the country as well as for sustaining employment in the textiles industry government has initiated two important steps which were part of Budget Announcement in Lok Sabha on 01.02.2020. These are;
i) Abolition of anti-dumping duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), which is a critical input for man-made textile fibre and yarns. Its easy availability and competitive pricing is desirable to unlock the immense potential in textile sector which is a significant employment generator.
ii) Creation of National Technical Textiles Mission with total outlay of Rs 1480 Crore.Technical textiles are textiles which are used for their functional properties, rather than for aesthetics or comfort. There are alarge varities of technical textiles some of which are used in important applications such as agriculture, health and hygiene, medical applications, soil and water conservation, roads and highway, railways, airports, sea-ports, defence, protection of personnel in military, para-military, petrochemical/chemical industries, safety of fireman etc. The aim of the Mission is to position India as a major producer, consumer and exporter of technical textile products in the world map, therefore boosting its economy and technological capability.
Besides this, to address the issues in Textile industries, Government has also announced key reforms under a Special Package that includes additional incentives under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund (ATUFS), relaxation of Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act and introduction of fixed term employment for the apparel sector. Under Pradhan MantriRojgarProtsahanYojana (PMRPY), Government is providing entire 12% of employer’s contribution towards Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) and Employee’s Pension Scheme (EPS). Further, to make the apparel sector competitive, Government is providing rebate of State and Central taxes/ levies embedded in manufacturing. A special one-time additional ad-hoc incentive of upto 1% of Free on Board (FoB) value will be provided for exports of apparel and made-ups to offset the difference between Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) and Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) + Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) @4%, from 7.3.2019 to 31.12.2019. Assistance is also provided to exporters under Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme. Government has enhanced interest equalization rate for pre and post shipment credit for exports done by Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of textile sector from 3% to 5% w.e.f. 02.11.2018. Benefits of Interest Equalization Scheme has been extended to merchant exporters from 02.01.2019 which was earlier limited to only manufacturer exporters.
(c) & (d)The Government has not conducted State-wise survey regarding the condition of the textile based industries in the country. However, in order to assess the number of handlooms, weavers, allied workers, gender-wise, SC/ST wise details, earning-wise details etc., to formulate policies and programmes for the handloom sector, 4th All India Handloom Census has been conducted recently in 2019-20. The state wise details in respect of 4th Handloom Census is at Annexure.
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