The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Alternative currency for pricing of textiles mooted

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Monday, Mar 17, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Alternative currency for pricing of textiles mooted

Special Correspondent

Industry moved in tune with the nation’s economy: Bank Chairman

— Photo: K. Ganesan

New initiative: Peter Gnagi, Chief Executive Officer, Rieter Switzerland, third from right, inaugurating the new textile units of Ramco Textile Division at Rajapalayam on Saturday. Also seen are P.R. Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha, Chairman, Ramco Group, left, and M.B.N. Rao, Chairman, Canara Bank, second from left.

RAJAPALAYAM: An alternative currency could be explored to tide over the impact of fluctuation in the United States Dollar for pricing textile goods that were exported from India, said M.B.N. Rao, the Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank, on Saturday.

Inaugurating five state-of-the-art spinning mills of Ramco textile division of Ramco group here, Mr. Rao pointed out that the Indian textile industry remained insulated in a protected economy in the past.

In an open economy, it felt the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates, he said while conceding that the industry did face certain challenges. The Canara Bank Chairman said that the textile industry had moved in tune with the country’s economy. This saw the transformation of cotton as a produce in an agrarian economy to a product with value addition. He cautioned that more challenges were in the offing in a couple of years, especially from China, when the quota regime was due to come to an end. But the industry would take up these challenges as opportunities, he added.

Mr. Rao hailed the Ramco textile division as a pioneer in the country that combined innovation and quality with sound business sense.

The Chairman of the Ramco Group, P.R. Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha, what Mr. Rao said was extremely modest and highly professional. His was more than a business group with a high sense of corporate social responsibility.

The Chief Executive Officer of Rieter AG, Switzerland, Peter Gnagi, who recalled the machinery supplier’s five decade association with the Ramco group, said that India, along with China and Turkey, ranked as the top three important customers. He hailed the high degree of education and craftsmanship among the workforce of India that had prompted Rieter to test some of its machinery here.

Mr. Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha said that the five new units would have 80,000 spindles.

The Rajapalayam Mills, he recalled, was started by his father P.C. Ramasamy Raja in 1938 with a capital of Rs.4.5 lakh. It had now blossomed into a group that also produced cement, fibre sheets and software.

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