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Special package for powerloom

The new textile minister has rightly evinced a very keen interest in the development of powerlooms by announcing a special relief package. One cannot ignore this sector which despite being decentralised, produces more than 60 per cent of the total fabric produced in the country. The current move is certainly a departure from the earlier measures that allowed powerlooms to die their own death. The sector was exposed to global competition without helping them prepare for the challenges. As part of the package, special directorates have been planned in major weaving clusters. There are plans to set up 15-20 textile parks in the next couple of years to provide these weaving clusters with adequate infrastructure support. Towards this end, the authorities will have to chalk out a concrete strategy to ensure implementation on time.

The textile ministry has forwarded a plan to the finance ministry to offer a direct capital subsidy of 20 per cent for the modernisation of the powerloom sector. This is certainly an apt move, but there is need to frame an action plan so that the benefits reach to right kind of entrepreneurs. This move will help the TUF scheme to expand its scope towards modernisation. Besides, there is need to review the existing schemes in the powerloom sector for their effective application. At present, the decentralised powerloom industry is struggling with obsolete technology, lack of finance and high cost of power. All this have come in the way to improve productivity and quality. With the removal of quota restrictions, competition for the powerloom sector within the country as well as in the exports markets will increase considerably. A focussed approach is called for towards modernisation and improvement of quality of fabrics and also bring down the cost of production to remain competitive in a global scenario.

All these years, the powerloom sector has been the largest contributor to our fabric production. During the fiscal ended March 2003, powerlooms produced 26109 million sq metres of fabrics out of the total fabric production of 41462 million sq metres. The sector has shown a steady progress, from production of 17201 sq metres of fabric in 1995-96, 19352 million sq metres in 1996-97, 20951 million sq metres in 1997-98, 20689 million sq metres in 1998-99, 23187 million sq metres in 1999-2000, 23803 million sq metres in 2000-01 and 26109 million sq metres. As against this, fabric production in the organised mill sector has been witnessing declines. For the fiscal 2002-03, the mill fabric production stood at 1496 million sq metres as compared to 1546 million sq metres. Production in the handloom sector has also been stagnated in the recent past. In fact, there is need to chalk out a policy which takes into account the importance of all the sectors and promote them in a way whereby each of them could play a complementary role.