The textile and apparel sector in India, which employs around 110 million people and is mostly based on cotton, generates about 8% of export earnings, 40,000 crores in GST revenue, and 12% of industrial production. Despite several obstacles, the industry has been expanding at a CAGR of about 6% because to the advantages of domestic cotton production and prompt government policy changes. By 2030, the nation would require about 20 billion kg of raw materials, compared to its current output of about 5.5 billion kg of cotton fiber and approximately 4 billion kg of MMF fibers and filament yarns, in order to grow its textile industry from its current level of 162 billion USD.
The newly elected and re-elected Chairman of SIMA CD & RA, Dr. S.K. Sundararaman, has appealed to the Hon’ble Prime Minister to announce a Technology Mission on Cotton, address the MMF and the inverted duty structure on textile processing jobs, and address issues related to MMF Quality Control Orders on MMF value chain. This was stated in a press release released today. He expressed gratitude to the NDA Government for consistently prioritizing the textile industry through the announcement of multiple measures, such as:
- Exemption of 11% import duty on ELS cotton
- FTAs with UAE, Mauritius and Australia, permitting duty free import of 3 lakh bales of ELS cotton
- Allocation of Rs.17,822 crores for TUF Scheme
- Launching of National Skill Development Corporation and implementation of PMKVY under skill development schemes
- SAMARTH skill development scheme exclusively for textile industry
- Rs.6,006 crores special package for the garment industry
- Refund or embedded taxes and levies through a unique RoTDEP Scheme
- Bringing entire cotton textile value chain under the uniform 5% GST (including handlooms, powerlooms), thus curbing evasion, enabling enhanced collection of GST revenue from Rs.3600 crores to around Rs.35000 crores and consequently reducing the clothing cost of the common man
- 85% of the textile manufacturers and traders covered under MSME sector, due to new eligibility criteria effective from 1st July 2020, by increasing asset value upto Rs.100 crores and also covering trade upto Rs.250 crores under MSME categories.
- MSME classification enabled the mills to avail the COVID package extended to tide over the financial crisis, which included ECLGS, thereby preventing the units being declared as NPAs and stabilizing the operations of the units which otherwise would have been closed.
- PM MITRA Park, a mega industrial park scheme for textile industry with plug and play facilities. Seven such parks are already under progress.
- PLI Scheme to encourage scale of operation giving thrust for MMF and technical textiles.
- NTTM Scheme for technical textiles with an outlay of Rs.1480 crores
- Removal of anti-dumping duty on PTA, MEG and all other manmade fibres and filaments.
Dr. Sundararaman said that the government has already announced special packages from the previous cotton season to stimulate indigenous seed technology for high density planting and ELS cotton, as well as to improve agronomy practices, in advance of the introduction of TMC 2.0. He continued by saying that the Phase II project was already underway and that the Phase I project had shown to be successful, resulting in a 30 to 60% boost in production.
Dr. Sundararaman said that the government has already announced special packages from the previous cotton season to stimulate indigenous seed technology for high density planting and ELS cotton, as well as to improve agronomy practices, in advance of the introduction of TMC 2.0. He continued by saying that the Phase II project was already underway and that the Phase I project had shown to be successful, resulting in a 30 to 60% boost in production.
The Hon’ble Union Minister of Finance, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, was thanked by Dr. Sundararaman for arranging the first-ever industry interaction meeting on September 11, 2024, in Coimbatore. This meeting allowed the senior officials of all major Ministries and Banks to hear complaints from MSMEs in the region, and the officials pledged to take prompt action to resolve the issues. He thanked the hon. minister for allocating time for the submission of the memorandum and for their in-depth discussions on a range of policy initiatives to improve the Indian textile and apparel industry’s competitiveness abroad, particularly the import duty exemption of all varieties of cotton during the off-season, which runs from April to October. This will create a win-win situation for the industry and farmers alike and stop price speculation.
Dr Sundararaman added that the Hon’ble Minister had also assured to resolve the issues relating to the MMF value chain inverted duty structure under GST, though the same was addressed with effect from 1.01.2022, the same was withdrawn due to the agitations by the downstream sectors especially MMF fabric segment in certain clusters.
Earlier at the 65th Annual General Meeting of The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), held at SIMA premises, Coimbatore, on 17th September 2024, Dr.S.K.Sundararaman, Managing Director, Shiva Texyarn Limited, Coimbatore has been unanimously re-elected as the Chairman for the year 2024-25. He holds an MBBS Degree and master’s in business management from Cambridge University, U.K. Dr Sundararaman is a well-known personality in the field of Technical Textiles in India and also in the field of Technical Education. He is the Managing Trustee of the Firebird Institute of Research & Management. He was the past Chairman of CII, Coimbatore, Educational Convenor CII, Tamil Nadu and past Chairman of Indian Technical Textile Association. He has been a member in various business forums at the national level.
Mr.Durai Palanisamy, Executive Director, Pallava Textiles P Limited, Erode, has been unanimously re-elected as the Deputy Chairman for the year 2024-25. He holds MBA in International Business from Southern New Hampshire University and Bachelor of Technology in Textile Technology from PSG College of Technology. He is the Vice-President of CII, Erode Zone. He is also in the Committee of Administration of Manmade and Technical Textiles Export Promotion Council (MATEXIL).
Mr.S.Krishnakumar, Managing Director, Sulochana Cotton Spg Mills P Ltd., Tiruppur, has been unanimously re-elected as the Vice-Chairman for the year 2023-24. He holds B.A. Psychology from P.S.G. Arts College Coimbatore and entered the business in the late 80’s. He is involved in various CSR activities, helping the society and particularly, his organization has planted 1.5 million trees in Tirupur including 30,000 trees within his mill premises.
Later at the 49th Annual General Meeting of SIMA Cotton Development & Research Association (SIMA CD & RA), on the same day, Dr.S.K.Sundararaman, Mr.Durai Palanisamy and Mr.S.Krishnakumar were elected as the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively.
