SIMA to focus on fibre availability and structural reforms for textile industry

The SIMA in Coimbatore will focus on ensuring the Indian textile gets fibre at competitive prices and structural problems are addressed

The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) will focus on measures needed to ensure competitive availability of raw materials for the textile industry and structural reforms required, said S.K. Sundararaman, the newly-elected chairman of the association.

India is among the top 10 textile manufacturers globally and the scope is more. The government should remove the import duty on cotton at least for varieties that are not grown in the country. In the case of manmade fibre (MMF) and speciality fibres, it should permit import through advance authorisation scheme without insisting on quality control norms, he told presspersons here on Friday.

“About 10,000 tonnes of speciality fibres are imported for re-export after value addition. We lose the export opportunities in these fibres because of the QCO norms,” added Durai Palanisamy, deputy chairman of the association. “We are not against the QCO. But, we want ease of doing business,” Mr. Sundararaman said.

On the structural issues, he said that in Tamil Nadu, which is the largest textile manufacturer, there should be efforts for a level-playing field. The system to fix minimum wages for textile workers should be restructured and rationalised so that the industry is able to compete with those in other States. Similarly, the association is discussing with the government on the power tariff issue too.

Cotton prices are currently at about ₹60,000 a candy and farmers are expected to release the cotton stocks with them next month, when the new season starts. There may be more cotton imports from African countries next season as the import duty is lesser for the cotton from these countries, he said.