The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Government committed to protecting textile sector

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Government committed to protecting textile sector

Special Correspondent

Efforts being made to offset acute power shortage: Minister

CHENNAI: The Government is committed to safeguarding the interests of the textile sector, which has the potential to transform rural lives in the State, Minister for Handlooms and Textiles N.K.K.P. Raja said on Friday.

Inaugurating a two-day buyers-sellers meet organised by the Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) here, he said the sector was a major foreign exchange earner, accounting for about 30 per cent of export earnings.

Mr. Raja said efforts were being made to offset the acute power shortage that plagued the textile industry.

The crisis resulted from lack of planning, he said. The textile ministry had taken up the issue with Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy.

The textile sector, he said, was given an assurance that measures had been initiated to prevent the power shortage from disrupting the functioning of powerlooms. The crisis was likely to be solved in six months.

“Soften the impact”

Mr. Raja said he had also urged Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to take steps to soften the impact of the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar on the textile industry.

Lauding the Tamil Nadu Government’s favourable policies, PDEXCIL chairman M. S. Mathivanan called for more generous measures commensurate with the stature of the State’s textile sector as a frontrunner in the nation. He was for more government intervention to solve energy issues that, he said, led to production loss, higher conversion costs and deadline failures.

Loss of mandays had affected the livelihood of millions of daily-wage workers.

Noting that an estimated 92 per cent of fabrics was generated by powerlooms, and the rest made by mills, he urged the Government to lower power tariffs for high-tech powerlooms.

N. M. Mugadur, officer with the Textile Commissioner in Mumbai, said Tamil Nadu’s textile industry had the potential to become a global hub.

Pointing out that the Centre was implementing a range of schemes, from capital subsidies to technology upgrade grants to help sustain the sector, he urged entrepreneurs to make the sector globally competitive.

Design studio

M. P. Nirmala, managing director, Tamil Nadu handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society, said a state-of-the-art design studio would be set up at Erode with the technical aid of the PDEXCIL.

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