Question : Removal of Rigid Labour Laws in Textile Industry

a) whether the Government is aware that the textile industry employing about 45 million people and is the second highest job generator after agriculture, has been demanding removal of rigid labour laws that hurt its operations;

b) if so, the details thereof;

c) whether the Government has constituted high level expert panel to give a boost to the labour-intensive textile sector, if so, the details thereof;

d) whether the aforesaid high level expert panel has submitted its report to the Government;

e) if not, the reasons thereof?

f) the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government on the recommendations made by the aforesaid panel?

MINISTER OF TEXTILES
(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (e): A High Level Advisory Group (HLAG) was constituted by the Department of Commerce to assess the global environment and recommendations for boosting India’s share and importance in global merchandise and services trade, managing pressing bilateral trade relations and mainstreaming new age policy making including textiles. The Advisory Group submitted its report on 22nd May 2019 to Department of Commerce.

(f): The Government has taken slew of measures on labour reforms for promotion of textile industry which inter-alia include the following:

(i) Reforms in Labour Laws:
Increasing overtime caps- Overtime hours for workers not to exceed 8 hours per week in line with ILO norms. This shall lead to increased earnings for the workers.
Introduction of fixed term employment - Looking at the seasonal nature for the garment segment, a fixed term workman at par with permanent workman in terms of working hours, wages, allowanced and other statutory dues.

(ii) Enhancing scope of Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act: Looking at the seasonal nature of garment industry, the provision of 240 days under Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act is relaxed to 150 days for garment industry.

(iii) Further, Government has launched a special package of Rs.6000 crore in 2016 to boost investment, employment and exports in the garmenting and made-ups sector with the following components viz., (i) full refund is provided under Remission of State Levies (ROSL) to the exporters for the State level taxes; (ii) production linked additional incentive of 10% is provided under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS); (iii) Government is providing the entire 12% of the employer’s contribution of the EPF under Pradhan Mantri Paridhan Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY) for a period of three years w.e.f 1st April,2018 to employees of garment industry who are earning less than Rs. 15,000 per month. Further a new Scheme for Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) has been approved by Government to rebate all embedded state as well as central taxes/levies with a view to improve the competitiveness of value-added textile apparel and made ups sector.

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