By IANS,
New Delhi : Textiles exports may fall short of the target and even witness negative growth, the government said here Tuesday.
“Recession in the US and European markets has slackened demand and exports, which grow at 11.5 percent in the first four months, may go negative,” Textiles Minister Shankar Sinh Vaghela told reporters.
“However, this is something that we cannot control, and like other sectors the slowdown will have negative impact on the textile sector also,” he added. “On the positive side, our cotton production has increased considerably and it is estimated that it will reach a record level of 32.20 million bales this fiscal.”
Vaghela said the finance department has been approached for a stimulus package for the textiles industry. “This includes loan waiver of Rs.26 billion for handloom cooperatives and concessional interest at the rate of 7 percent.”
Additionally, the minimum support price of cotton has been increased by record 39 percent to 45 percent during the cotton season of 2008-09, the minister added.
“We have proposed 40 textile parks, of which four are inaugurated and eight will be inaugurated by March next year,” Vaghela said.
However, the minister added that investors were showing “some reluctance”, which could delay execution of the plans.
“We are expecting drop in production by 2-3 percent because of a fall in demand. And the worst-hit section is handicraft section,” J.N. Singh, textiles joint secretary, said on the sidelines of the same conference.