“We cannot continue to do business with the same technology that was there 10- 15 years ago. We have to pour money into technological upgradation. If the private investor cannot find money, the government must step forward to upgrade the technology used in textile and apparel industry,” said former Indian Finance Minister P.Chidambram in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
He was addressing the members of various textile associations and the representatives of textile and apparel industry bodies from Coimbatore and Tiruppur at a discussion organized by All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC) on How can India boost its exports of textiles and apparels and also create millions of jobs!
Chidambaram was joined by Rathin Roy, Ex-member of PM Modi’s Economic Advisory Council and Praveen Chakravarty, Chairman of AIPC. Setting the context, Chakravarty said that 70- 80% of workforce in Textiles, apparels and garments sector in India are women; it is the most women-labour intensive economic activity in the country, and exports generate lot of jobs in this sector. So Gandhiji would very much appreciate that such an opportunity is created for women. So when we boost our exports this happens. But the current scenario of exports in this sector is not so good.
“In the year 2000, India exported $5 bn worth of garments. In that same year Bangladesh too exported $5 bn and Vietnam exported just $1.5 bn. By the end of 2023, India went from $5 bn to $15 bn, whereas Bangladesh went from $5 to $45 bn and Vietname went from $1.5 bn went to $33 bn. However in the last year of Manmohan Singh led government, (in which Chidambaram was the FM), India had reached $15 bn. This means that Indian exports of garments did not grow from 2013-2023, and that also means that women did not get jobs as they should have,” Chakravarty said.
He underlined that this discussion on ‘How can India boost its exports of textiles and apparels and also create millions of jobs’ is very important in the current scenario. Setting aside politics, this discussion is to get views from an economics expert like Chidambaram and also listen to the queries of the industry, first-hand.
While Industry may ask what good it is to talk to the opposition party about their needs, Chakravarty said that Chidambaram was the Chair of Congress’ Manifesto preparation committee last year, and several promises that were made in the Congress-manifesto – such as removal of angel investment tax, simplification of GST, launch of an internship scheme, employment-linked incentive scheme, etc- were taken up by the ruling party and they were announced in the recent Union Budget. So in the interest of the growth of industry and the economy, some of the powerful ideas from Chidambaram would be presented here, and it is hoped that the government will consider listening to them.
P.Chidambaram while speaking, advocated for rapid technological upgradation in the textile, garment and apparel industries in India. If the businesses could not get themselves enhanced to fight with the competition, then the Indian Government must back them up.
Import duties are the biggest tax on our exports. Government should slash the import duties. For some time, imports will take place more but if the government fails to do this, and then our exports won’t increase. Subsidies and incentives, etc can temporarily boost exports but they won’t help in the long run. Slashing imports will help the textile industry to become competitive. The government should wake up from its slumber and decide on how and when these could be done, he said.
Another recommendation he made to the textile industries was that he urged them to become world-sized businesses. He wanted the industries to not be content with the current amount of profits they are making but aspire to upscale and become world-sized manufacturers.
