The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) chairman, Sanjay Jain on the other hand welcomes the Budget 2018 with a doubt. He feels a large part of the increase in allocation has gone to the state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for performing minimum support price (MSP) operations and hence, won’t help the industry.

Although the rise in basic customs duty (BCD) on silk fabric to 20 per cent from 10 per cent would save the industry from dumping from China, the industry aspired for an increase in BCD across both yarn and fabric and therefore, is disappointed with this partial measure, Jain said.

The step to make the MSP of all crops 1.5 times that of the production cost will benefit cotton farmers, but will result in high inflation for consumers and the downstream segments and make the industry uncompetitive internationally, he felt.

According to Jain, The National Livelihood Scheme of Rs 5,750 crore will benefit the textile sector in rural areas.

ATUFS was introduced in 2015 specifically targeting employment generation and export, promotion of technical textiles, technologically upgrading existing looms and encouraging quality in the processing industry. Jain added, the budgetary allocation for the textile sector has been increased to Rs 7,148 crore, which includes Rs 2,300 crore for the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) of the textiles ministry, over Rs 6,251 crore last year.

CITI urged the government to change from MSP to the direct subsidy system, so that the profit protection measure of farmers doesn’t impact the textile consumer and the value added industry.

– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel