By IANS
Ahmedabad : The central government’s proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) to help the textile industry that has been hit by the rupee appreciation is poised to take off in four months.
Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director of Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council (Texprocil), said: “There is a proposal for an SPV. But it is still in the consideration stage. It could take three to four months to conceptualise and launch it.”
However, the other export promotion councils, linked to the union textile ministry, do not seem to be aware of any such proposal.
When contacted, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) chairman Rakesh Vaidh told IANS: “I have taken over as the chairman of the council, but I am not aware of any such idea.”
The proposal for a single agency to deal with textile exports was first hinted at by a textile ministry official during a seminar on the industry – Texcellence 2006 – held here in April 2006.
Sources said Textile Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela would outline the broad features of the scheme when the Lok Sabha discusses the demands for grants for his ministry during the budget session.
According to ministry sources, the idea behind establishing the SPV is to synergise the effectors of different organisations for promoting exports in order to maximise outcome.
The new agency was to evolve an integrated textile promotion in prospective markets identified on the basis of product-country potential analysis.
The agency is likely to be incorporated as a holding company in which all export promotion councils in textiles and clothing sector would be involved as stakeholders. There are nine other councils besides AEPC and Texprocil.