The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Garment policy being formulated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Garment policy being formulated

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: The State Government is formulating a Garment Policy with a focus on all aspects of the industry from “yarn to fashion”, Commissioner for Textiles Ashok Kumar Manoli has said.

Mr. Manoli was inaugurating a workshop here on Tuesday organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and Ministry of Textiles.

He said the policy would involve an investment of Rs. 500 crore to ensure “a chain of development” at all levels of the textile and garment sector over the next five years. Karnataka was the first State in the country to make an investment of such magnitude in the sector, he added.

The policy would work towards stimulating investment, improving technology and access to it, providing better infrastructure and ensuring spread of the industry in rural and semi-rural areas, said Mr. Manoli. An important target of the policy would be training five lakh technically-competent employable people in the next five years.

All this, he said, would go a long way in preparing the industry for the next phase of growth.

The textile and garment industry was in a “critical turn” at the moment with the industry unable to maintain last year’s growth rate of 62 per cent, said Mr. Manoli.

Strengthening of rupee against the dollar had made a dent on the industry on the one hand while non-tariff barriers were imposed by the developed countries by raising “ethical sourcing” issues on labour and ecological standards. While workers were demanding better wages, the industrialists were demanding more flexible labour laws, he said.

J.D. Burman, Deputy Regional Director, Textile Committee, said the committee was working towards strategies to improve the sector in the free trade era involving all stakeholders in the process.

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