A national-level meeting is convened by the textiles minister Smriti Irani to discuss issues faced by the powerloom sector in New Delhi today. This is for the first time that key representatives from power loom clusters across the country have been invited for discussions by the ministry of textiles.

The Surat’s power loom sector will be represented by Devesh Patel, president of Katargam Weavers Association; Dhirubhai Shah, managing director of Fairdeal Filaments Ltd; Ashish Gujarati of Pandesara Weavers Association and Anil Saraogi secretary of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The issues to be discussed include increasing prices of yarn, anti-dumping duty on PTA, import of undervalued fabrics from China, technology upgradation, increasing subsidy for MSME under Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), electricity tariff, etc.

The major issue concerning power loom weaving sector is the import of undervalued fabric and garment from Asian countries, including China. In last few months, around 50 per cent of the power loom units have been shut down due to the onslaught of undervalued imported fabric in the country.

Another major issue is of anti-dumping duty on PTA, which is the raw material of yarn manufacturing. Only three big corporate houses are going to benefit out of this and the rest of the power loom sector will suffer badly.

Gujarati said that for the first time, the ministry of textiles has convened such a meeting creating an opportunity to put forth their views on the issues faced by the power loom weavers in Surat.

-Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel