Textile export target at $ 14 bn

In the first quarter of the current fiscal textile exports have touched $ 2.882 billion which is an increase in rupee terms over the first quarter of 1997-99 but in dollar terms it represents a drop of 1.1 per cent, the minister said.

The slow-down is on account of recession in the major importing countries, he said. The currency crisis in South-East Asia has hit cotton yarn exports, the minister said.

Highlighting the recent policy initiatives which are expected to boost exports, the minister said that in the revised Eximpolicy the threshold limit for availing zero duty imports under the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme was lowered to Rs 1 crore from Rs 20 crore. And under the Duty Exemption Pass Book (DEPB) scheme, the value of DEPB rates for many textile products have been increased, he said.

The government has set up a 12-member expert committee to be headed by former textiles secretary S R Sathyam to review and evaluate current policy. The committee will submit its report within six months, the minister said. The committee will study the competitiveness of various segments of the industry with reference to their international counterparts and suggest policy initiatives, he said.

The terms of reference of the committee will include evolving a new set of policy guidelines to optimise production of each segment of the textile industry covering all activities in the mill, powerlooom and handloom sector, the minister said. The ministry is working on a proposal for a Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme, the details ofwhich will be finalised soon, he said.

Speaking to this paper, Sathyam said the committee will be entrusted with a corpus of Rs 2,500 crore for "lifting the technology base" of the industry. The amount will come as a grant from the central government. The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) will appraise the projects which will be the beneficiaries of aid from the ministry. GP Gupta, chairman IDBI is a member of the expert committee.

The minister announced that Columbia, which had introduced safeguard measures against denim imports from India, has withdrawn them following a representation before the Textile Monitoring Body in the WTO. The safeguard measures introduced by Columbia were not justified in accordance with Article 6 of the Agreement on Textile and Clothing, Rana said.