It is perhaps for the first time that India’s textile and apparel industry representatives met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 11 industry stalwarts from textile, apparel (export as well as domestic) and fashion retail were part of the meeting. This informal meeting was called at PM residence to know the plight of the textile industry.
Sanjay Lalbhai, CMD Arvind Ltd.; BK Goenka, President, ASSOCHAM; Rajinder Gupta, Chairman, Trident Group; Rajkumar, Chairman, CITI; DL Sharma, MD, Vardhman Textiles Ltd.; Harish Ahuja, CMD, Shahi Exports; Raja M. Shanmugam, President, TEA; Prabhu Damodaran, Convenor, ITF; Siddharth Bindra, MD, Biba; Sanjay Vakharia, CEO, Spykar and Dr. K. Selvaraju, Secretary General, SIMA were part of this meeting.
They had a detailed deliberation with the PM covering all the short-term and long-term policy measures’ proposals, though these proposals were already submitted to the Government by National Committee on Textiles & Clothing (NCTC).
Balkrishan Goenka, President ASSOCHAM and Chairman, Welspun Group apprised PMO India on industry scenario. “With PM’s strong thrust on growth, I’m confident that this meeting will open newer avenues of development for the textiles sector & help in achieving the US $ 5 trillion economy vision,” he added.
Thanking the Prime Minister, Raja. M. Shanmugham, said that PM interacted with industry representatives to know the ground realities of the industry and this is a rare occasion for the industry. The PM was also requested to address burning issues like Risky Exporter, Impact of BASEL Norms and refund of pending claims under various schemes.
PM was receptive and advised the delegation to send a brief note on the key issues to be addressed. He patiently heard the concerns of the entire supply chain as the meeting continued for around 90 minutes.
Prime minister is meeting other industry representatives as well. One can see it in the light of the upcoming budget as well as current down sentiments of the textile and apparel industry. “It is too early to say how beneficial this meeting will be for the industry. But it’s good that at least industry grievances directly reached the PM,” said a person who was in meeting but didn’t wish to be quoted.
Being an important sector in job creation, PM wanted to understand the happenings on the ground and also the growth opportunities in textile sector.
It is pertinent to mention here that textile and apparel industry is struggling and issues like clarity in RoSCTL are pending at the Government’s end. Despite lot of efforts and measures initiated by the industry, nothing concrete has been achieved in this regard.
Overall industry is very happy with the meeting and is expecting a long-lasting and strong relief.
