The newly formed National Committee on Textiles and Clothing (NCTC) has urged the Indian government to stop the import of used clothes from China, Bangladesh and Indonesia as the domestic textile industry is reeling under falling exports, rising imports and slowing demand. The NCTC is now discussing various issues to arrive at a consensus on policy measures.
The committee has also sought adequate safeguard measures on imports of fibres, yarns, fabrics and readymade garments and called for extending the benefits of enhanced Merchandise Exports under India Scheme (MEIS) and Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies on Export of Garments till overall scheme on Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product comes into force.
To highlight issues and challenges being faced by the textile and clothing industry and the urgent policy interventions required to address the same, India’s national and regional textile associations and the various export promotion councils (EPCs) formed the NCTC. NCTC was formed under the chairmanship of T Rajkumar, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI).
For long term policy measures, NCTC has decided to hire the services of a competent agency to undertake a study and make recommendations, according to an NCTC press release. A list of short-term policy measures has been finalised and an NCTC delegation led by Rajkumar met the ministers of finance, commerce and textiles to apprise them of the grim situation facing the sector. NCTC submitted a memorandum to finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on October 14 apprising her about the urgent demands.
