Mumbai: The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) Chairman, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, approached to the Hon’ble Prime Minister appealing for announcement of a special Package for growth of the Manmade Fibre Textiles sector, in view of the recurrence of the covid-19 pandemic and severe impact of the second wave on the MMF textile segment. Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, SRTEPC mentioned that both the year 2019-20 and 2020-21 have been very challenging for the Manmade fibre textiles segment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Textile activities as well as exports have been severely impacted during last two years. The estimated exports of Manmade fibre textiles during 2020-21 show a decline of – 19% as compared to 2019-20. The Exports of all the four segments of Manmade fibre textiles have witnessed decline, such as fibre - 28%, yarn - 15%, fabrics - 18% and made-ups -23%, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, informed. He also indicated that though t h e l a t e s t D G C I & S d a t a s h o w s improvement in exports this is mainly because of very low base that was witnessed in the previous year. However, the ground situation in textiles export is alarming since outbreak of covid – 19 pandemic, he stated. Therefore, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, SRTEPC appeals to the Hon’ble Prime Minister on behalf of the entire MMF textile fraternity to kindly announce a special Covid-19 pandemic Relief package. The SRTEPC Head also appealed to the Minister of Finance, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Minister of Textiles for the Special Package requesting to consider favourable orders on the following measures: 1) Release all the pending dues of the exporters under Drawback, MEIS, IGST, ROSL, RoSCTL, TUFS on an urgent basis. 2) G r a n t m o r a t o r i u m f o r repayment of principal and interest for at least one year. 3) Special Export incentive of 3% on fibre & yarn, 4% on fabric, 5% on made-ups for at least 6 months or till the impact of coronavirus subsides and global markets stabilise. 4) Allow option to restructure loans for one year without any additional charges/ penal interest etc. by Banks. 5) RBI to relax NPA norms for 6 months, so that no default will be eligible for being termed as an NPA account. 6) Provide at least 35% to 40% of the workers’ salary payments for a period of 12 months to protect the MSMEs reeling under the severe impact of COVID-19. 7) Extend ECGC support to address the cancelled and deferred orders. 8) Include entire MMF textile value chain viz., fibres, yarns, fabrics, made-ups, etc under RoDTEP Scheme & declare RoDTEP rates immediately with a minimum rate of 7%. Also factor in the MEIS benefits within the RoDTEP as objective of the MEIS was provide relief to exporters to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated costs. 9) M M F t e x t i l e s e g m e n t i s highly capital intensive and important Segment for the growth of Indian textile industry. Therefore, to sustain investment and encourage new ones, it is requested to extend the EPCG Scheme for the next 5 years. 10) Rectify the Inverted Duty Structure prevailing in the MMF textile segment by introducing a uniform 5% GST rate for entire value chain in the MMF textiles segment. 11) Continue the Interest Equalization Scheme (IES) benefit for exports by covering the entire MMF textile value chain viz., fibres, yarns, fabrics, made-ups, etc. & enhance the IES to 5%. Further it is requested to extend 3% interest subvention on working capital. The SRTEPC Head informed that the above-mentioned measures are very important and urgent to help sustain the MMF textiles segment which has been in an extremely bad shape because of the second wave of covid-19 pandemic. If the above-mentioned points are favourably considered by the Government there will certainly be positive results both in production as well as in exports of Manmade fibre textiles, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, SRTEPC informed.
Source: Global Textiles & Apparels
The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has directed GST officials across the country to ensure that the tax rate cuts notified on some COVID-19-related essentials are passed on to consumers. Complaints from end users about lack of price reductions commensurate with the tax cuts, are to be treated on a priority basis and forwarded to the State-level Screening Committees and Standing Committees on Anti-Profiteering, the NAA Secretary A.K. Goel said in a memo posted on its website on Thursday. At its last meeting on June 12, the GST Council had waived the indirect tax levied on two critical drugs, Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B, and reset the tax rate to 5% on 14 COVID-19 essentials. On June 14, the Finance Ministry had notified the revised rates, which are applicable till September 30. the NAA emphasised. Tax experts said that producers of items ranging from ambulances to pulse oximeters and oxygen concentrators would need to ensure retail price reductions were effected soon and paperwork filed to justify the extent of reductions, in order to avoid action under the anti-profiteering framework. “Businesses dealing with medical supplies that have undergone a GST rate reduction need to ensure that they have adequate documentation to demonstrate that the rate cuts have been passed on to the consumers,” said M.S. Mani, senior director at Deloitte India. Suppliers or firms who had not got the benefit of input tax credits on account of cuts in the GST rate could also file complaints, with the anti-profiteering apparatus. State-level screening and standing committees examine complaints and determine the prima facie evidence, based on which they are authorised to transfer the case to the Director General of Safeguards at the NAA, if they believe suitable price cuts have not been implemented by a producer. “The government should give wider publicity to educate consumers of their rights against companies who are not passing on the benefit of reduction in GST rates on COVID items,” said Rajat Bose, partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.
Source: The Hindu
Serai has launched a traceability solution which allows apparel businesses to track cotton and other raw materials going into their products. Serai, the digital B2B platform by HSBC that helps making global trade easier for apparel businesses has come up with various solutions to help apparel companies showcase their products and capabilities, grow their network and learn about their supply chain. With the first Indian company joining in February last year, Serai now has over 2000 Indian brands, suppliers and manufacturers on its platform, including manufacturers liek Shivalik Prints, Radnik Exports and Indian Designs. This year Serai has seen a QOQ 23% increase in Indian apparel businesses joining the platform. “India is one of the most culturally rich and diverse countries in the world with a wide range of home-grown textiles and apparel companies. While the travel restrictions brought about by Covid have made the traditional way of doing business difficult, this has opened up opportunities to take a new approach. Technology is a critical enabler for us to overcome these issues. Platforms such as Serai’s can help to aid the transition for apparel MSMEs in a post Covid, digital world. Companies can showcase their products and capabilities on the platform and build relationships with suppliers or buyers from all over the world,” said Vivek Ramachandran, CEO, Serai, in a statement. Since its launch in 2019, Serai has launched several features aimed at encouraging the apparel businesses on its platform to network, build strong relationships and trade with each other. Recently it introduced a feature that allows buyers to upload their requests for quotations (RFQs) which can be responded to by manufacturers and suppliers on the platform. There were over 1800 RFQs submitted since February, indicating strong global demand for garment sourcing. “We’ve introduced a private sourcing service for buyers who have specific needs. Serai experts will screen for potential suppliers and manufacturers based on the requirements stated by the buyers and arrange individual sourcing. This helps accelerate the buying cycle, especially for small and medium-sized buyers who may not have the network and resources a larger brand would have,” Ramachandran added in a statement. With supply chain transparency being a priority for the apparel industry globally, Serai also launched its Traceability solution in January which allows apparel businesses to track cotton and other raw materials going into their products. Through the product, businesses can trace the order flow throughout the supply chain, manage supply chain risks and collect data for compliance purposes. A subsidiary of HSBC, Serai currently has over 7000 companies on its platform from over 100 countries including India, UK, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA and Australia. About 62% are suppliers and manufacturers, while 38% are buyers and brands primarily from the US, UK and Australia.
Source: Economic Times
"We are dealing with uncertainty. Third wave may happen but we don't know how it will unfold. We need to take some steps against the third wave as a policymaker, and we will carry monetary and fiscal interventions if required. The Centre will closely monitor Covid-19 infection data for six weeks to chart the path it needs to walk for economic intervention, rather than making announcements based on projections of the third wave of the pandemic, Principal Economic Advisor to the finance ministry, Sanjeev Sanyal said. Sanyal made the statement amid criticism of the government for its alleged poor planning which led to hardship to people and the economy. "We are dealing with uncertainty. Third wave may happen but we don't know how it will unfold. We need to take some steps against the third wave as a policymaker, and we will carry monetary and fiscal interventions if required. "But we need to watch carefully the high-frequency data for six weeks and monitor the testing rather than prejudge how it will behave," he said at an interactive session with MCCI. On the possible interventions in wake of the third wave threat to the economy, the economist said, "Our response is partly contingent on how exactly things span out." Sanyal said that fresh interventions could be targeted at sectors based on actual situations rather than generalised ones. "With the steps already taken on the demand side, some sectors are already redhot, but some sectors like tourism and hospitality are not. If generalised interventions are done, the demand and the growth will spurt but will have the problem of inflation," he said. Sanyal said that the government would like to respond quickly based on actual data instead of assumptions. He said that planning and forecasting will work in case of vaccination, which is the only solution to get out of the "switch on and switch off (lockdowns)" mode and the nation does not want to go back to a "blunt" nationwide lockdown.
Source: Economic Times
Revenue of the top 10 states had plunged 600 basis points (bps) last fiscal but is set to exceed the pre-pandemic level this financial year, driven by higher tax buoyancy, rise in sales tax collections from petroleum products coupled with increase in grants following 15th Finance Commission recommendations, Crisil said in a report. Revenues of India’s top 10 states that account for about 70% of aggregate gross state domestic product are set to exceed pre-pandemic levels by about 600 basis points in FY22, said ratings agency NSE -1.18 % . The surge will be driven by higher tax buoyancy, sales tax collections from petrol and diesel and increased grants as per the 15th Finance Commission recommendations. The ratings agency added that aggregate goods and services tax (GST) collections, which account for a fifth of the revenues of states, had recovered well in the fourth quarter of FY21 as economic activity sprung back, and the momentum continued in FY22 with April and May collections averaging Rs 0.93 lakh crore, marking an 11% growth on-year. “While the second wave of the pandemic may moderate GST collections in June and July, we expect a recovery to pre-pandemic levels by August,” said Manish Gupta, senior director at Crisil Ratings. He added that Crisil expects India’s GDP to grow 9.5% this fiscal, which should assist GST collections to marginally better the pre-pandemic levels. “Revenues of India’s top 10 states, which plunged 600 basis points (bps) last fiscal, are set to exceed the pre-pandemic— or fiscal 2020—levels by ~600 bps this fiscal,” the agency said Thursday, basis its analysis of revenues of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.
Source: Economic Times
India's draft plan "includes several concerning policies, including significant limits on platforms' ability to organise sales and handle grievances," USIBC said in an email to its members. A top lobby group that is part of the US Chamber of Commerce believes India's proposed new e-commerce rules are a cause for concern and will lead to a stringent operating environment for companies, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. India this week spooked online retailers like Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart by outlining plans to limit "flash sales", reining in a private label push and mandating them to have a system to address grievances. The Washington-headquartered US-India Business Council (USIBC), of which Amazon and Walmart are members, described the rules as concerning in an internal email, saying some provisions were in line with India's stance on other big digital companies. India's draft plan "includes several concerning policies, including significant limits on platforms' ability to organise sales and handle grievances," USIBC said in an email to its members. USIBC has in the past urged India not to tighten a separate set of rules governing foreign investment in companies like Amazon and Flipkart, an issue that has often soured trade relations between India and United States. USIBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The new rules - open for consultation until July 6 - are expected to have an impact across the board in an online retail market forecast to be worth $200 billion by 2026. They will also apply to Indian firms like Tata's BigBasket and NSE -2.02 % ' JioMart, but the proposal comes after Indian retailers for years complained that market leaders Amazon and Flipkart used complex business structures to bypass India's foreign investment law, hurting small businesses. The companies deny any wrongdoing. India's new proposed rules have raised concerns they will force Amazon and Flipkart to review their business structures, industry sources and lawyers have told Reuters. The USIBC email noted that India's proposals "preclude (e-commerce) platforms from owning vendors". Amazon specifically holds an indirect stake in two of its top sellers and a Reuters investigation in February cited Amazon. documents that showed it gave preferential treatment to a small number of its sellers. India's rules also will force e-commerce companies to reveal the country of origin of a product and suggest alternatives to ensure a "fair opportunity for domestic goods". Some of the new provisions align with India's similar federal policies "for social and digital media companies ... and will result in a more stringent e-commerce regime," USIBC said in its email.
Source: Economic Times
Bengaluru-based firm TextileGenesis is a traceability platform built for the apparel ecosystem. It recently collaborated with 'Fashion for Good' -- a platform for sustainable fashion innovation – for the Viscose Traceability Pilot, a consortium project along with partners like BESTSELLER and Kering to trace sustainable viscose in garments using its blockchain tracing solution. With an estimated 30 percent of viscose sourced from endangered forests, the validation of TextileGenesis' solution, is an important step towards transparency in the value chain, and ensuring fibres originate from renewable sources. Proving the flexibility, interoperability as well as scalability of the platform has prompted participating brands to explore further implementation of the technology, expanding the scope for viscose to also include other fibres. Amit Gautam, CEO and Founder, TextileGenesis, says: "This was a true cross-industry consortium approach with broad engagement of brands, sustainable fibre producers, textile suppliers, and key industry stakeholders. In this pilot, we demonstrated that the digital supply chain traceability and physical tracer verification are complementary (not substitutes), and along with the traceability data protocol form the building blocks of a holistic system." BESTSELLER and Kering each contributed four garment styles, totaling around 23,000 product units which were cataloged and successfully tracked on the TextileGenesis platform. Christian Tubito, Head of Materials Innovation, Kering, says: "At Kering we believe that innovation is crucial to reach our sustainability targets. Part of the work we're doing at our Materials Innovation Lab since 2013 is to identify materials that can lower our impact on people and the planet while continuing offering our Luxury Houses fabrics and textiles that meet the highest standards of quality for their collections. The Viscose Traceability Pilot we've joined, led by Fashion For Good, is one of the options we're looking at to support us in reaching our goal of 100% traceability for our key materials by 2025." The garments, made with varying compositions; from 100 percent sustainable viscose - produced by Lenzing, ENKA and Tangshan Sanyou, to blends with generic fibres, were traced through 25 suppliers from seven countries; Austria, Germany, Italy, Turkey, India, Bangladesh, and China. Three key dimensions were determined to be proof points against which to measure the success of the TextileGenesis platform and the pilot; flexibility, interoperability and scalability.
Flexibility: Capturing real-world complexity
The platform uses Fibercoins as their blockchain based digital tokens which provide a "digital twin" for sustainable fibres. Once a fibre is produced, every kilogram of that fibre is represented in the platform by one Fibercoin. Supply chain players can transfer these coins in parallel to the production of textile products as they move through the supply chain. Thanks to this tokenisation model, the platform demonstrated its flexibility in capturing the broad, real-world complexity of vertically-integrated suppliers, covering steps from fibre production through to garment production, and highly fragmented supply chains. This provided new insights on product flow while also illustrating the importance of combining both physical tracers and digital components, to amplify one another towards a more robust traceability system.
Interoperability; Combining the digital and physical
With many traceability technologies on the market today, the platform is able to operate across all standards, platforms and industries, aggregating and incorporating these into a single system. This allows brands visibility over their products and demonstrates its industry wide application. The incorporation of physical tracer certificates demonstrates the interoperability of the platform, that is its ability to communicate and aggregate information from other systems. Through this consortium project, future upgrades of the platform will integrate Canopy Hot-Button Ranking data and next generation viscose lines which will not only be available to the participating pilot brands, but to all other brands using the platform. As part of this pilot, the unique physical traceability techniques used by Lenzing and ENKA were incorporated onto the platform and, for the first time ever, different physical traceability techniques were integrated in a single platform at the garment-level.
Scalability
Simultaneously on-boarding the 25 suppliers in a short span of four to six weeks, they were able to independently use the system after a single training session - indicating the scalability of the platform in terms of rapid on-boarding of suppliers and ease of use. Camilla Skjønning Jørgensen, Sustainable Materials & Innovation Manager, BESTSELLER, says: "In this pilot, BESTSELLER has successfully traced more than 22,500 styles. We believe in the potential of this solution and have just agreed to an upscaled second pilot where we will double the number of supply chain partners -- including spinners, weavers and manufacturers – and trace one million styles through a fibre-based approach. Starting out with viscose, we are now looking into organic cotton as well as the compatibility with BESTSELLER's existing digital systems -- achieving one success at a time." Due to the success of this pilot, the platform and solution will be scaled with Fashion for Good partners beyond viscose to include other sustainable fibres such as organic cotton and recycled polyester. Six other fibre players will independently be engaged in pilots for sustainable viscose, recycled polyester, and organic cotton. Lenzing and Tangshan will continue to be engaged in the scaling phase of these pilots. This roadmap will also leverage TextileGenesis' partnership with Textile Exchange, whom they are supporting to digitise traceability in their certifications, including recycled polyester, responsible wool or down, and later organic cotton. Gautam adds: "Our vision is to become the industry's technology backbone where fibreto-retail supply chain transactions of all sustainable materials can be verified and tracked in a robust, reliable and scalable manner."
Source:, Daiji World
S&P Global Ratings cut India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 9.5 per cent, from 11 per cent earlier, and warned of risk to the outlook from further waves of Covid pandemic S&P Global Ratings on Thursday cut India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 9.5 per cent, from 11 per cent earlier, and warned of risk to the outlook from further waves of COVID pandemic. The agency lowered the growth outlook saying that a severe second COVID-19 outbreak in April and May led to lockdowns imposed by states and sharp contraction in economic activity. We forecast growth of 9.5 per cent this fiscal year from our March forecast of 11 per cent, S&P said. Stating that permanent damage to private and public sector balance sheets will constrain growth over the next couple of years, it projected India's growth at 7.8 per cent in the next fiscal ending March 31, 2023. Further pandemic waves are a risk to the outlook given that only about 15 per cent of the population has received at least one vaccine dose so far, although vaccine supplies are expected to ramp up, S&P said. Indian economy contracted by 7.3 per cent in fiscal 2020-21 as the country battled the first wave of COVID, as against a 4 per cent growth in 2019-20. GDP growth in the current fiscal was estimated to be in double digits initially, but a severe second wave of pandemic has led to various agencies cut growth projections. Earlier this month, RBI too cut India's growth forecast to 9.5 per cent for this fiscal, from 10.5 per cent estimated earlier. It said manufacturing and exports were less severely affected compared with 2020, but services were acutely disrupted. Consumption indicators such as vehicle sales fell sharply in May 2021 and consumer confidence remains downbeat. The economy has turned a corner now. New COVID-19 cases have been falling consistently and mobility is recovering. We expect this recovery to be less steep compared with the bounce in late 2020 and early 2021, it said. S&P said households are running down saving buffers to support consumption and a desire to rebuild saving could hold back spending even as the economy reopens. Monetary and fiscal policies will remain accommodative but new stimulus will not be forthcoming, it added. S&P said RBI has no room to cut interest rates with inflation above 6 per cent the upper end of the central bank target range. Also, fiscal policy is constrained by limited policy space, particularly because the budget for fiscal 2022 (ending March 31, 2022), which was decided before the second COVID-19 wave, had already targeted a large general government deficit of 9.5 per cent of GDP. S&P joins a host of global and domestic agencies which have cut India's growth estimates for current fiscal. Another US-based rating agency Moody's has projected India to clock a 9.3 per cent growth in the current fiscal ending March 2022. For 2021 calendar year, Moody's has cut growth estimate sharply to 9.6 per cent. Earlier this month, World Bank had slashed its GDP growth forecast for current fiscal ending March 2022 to 8.3 per cent, from 10.1 per cent estimated in April, saying economic recovery is being hampered by the devastating second wave of coronavirus infections. Domestic rating agency ICRA too had projected economic growth at 8.5 per cent for this financial year, while British brokerage firm Barclays had last month cut India's growth forecast to 9.2 per cent.
Source: Business Standard
Canada and Indonesia recently began negotiations over a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) that is expected to boost bilateral trade and investment. Canadian minister of small business, export promotion and international trade Mary Ng and Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi officially launched the talks during a virtual ceremony on June 21. “Once it is concluded, an Indonesia-Canada CEPA will level the playing field and allow Indonesian businesses to compete with exporters from Canada’s other free trade partners,” ambassador Cameron MacKay said in a statement issued by the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta. “This is an extension of President Joko Widodo’s instruction to have Indonesia actively negotiate international trade deals to open new markets, especially new export markets, amid the pandemic,” media reports in Indonesia quoted Lutfi as saying. This is the second such agreement being negotiated with a country from the Americas after Indonesia ratified a CEPA with Chile in 2019. Canada has free trade agreements with over 50 countries. Canada’s and Indonesia’s bilateral trade value is quite small, amounting to just over $2 billion in 2020, according to Statistics Indonesia. Canada was Indonesia’s 15th biggest foreign investor last year, with investments standing at $175.3 million, according to Investment Coordinating Board. The United States invested $749.7 million, making it the eighth biggest investor. The embassy’s statement said that, in 2020, Canada’s top exports to Indonesia were cereals, fertilisers, wood pulp, oilseeds and machinery while its top imports were rubber, electrical and electronic equipment and textiles.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
From regular customer, to part-time worker, and now running her own store, Wendy Voon had a strong relationship with the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) long before setting up Wendy Voon Knits. “I used to enjoy going there as a customer. I loved the fresh produce and just the atmosphere really,” Ms Voon said. Wendy Voon Knits has been at QVM for around five years, selling scarves, wraps and clothing designed and created in Melbourne. The store has sold other independent labels as well and has only stocked Australian-made products – an impressive feat considering the small size of Australia’s knitwear industry. Ms Voon has used a domestic knitting machine to make her products – the machine is manually driven and has given her knits a hand-made touch. “If you look at the designs close up, it’s quite apparent that they haven’t been made by an industrial machine,” she said. A machine has been set up in the store itself and that means during quieter times of the day, “whoever is working in the store can be making a jumper,” Ms Voon said. “That also gives customers the opportunity to see what is involved in the process as well. It gives people an appreciation about how much work actually goes into making an item of clothing.” Ms Voon dedicated eight years to a career in IT before she decided to pursue knitting commercially. She was grateful for the hands-on approach of her TAFE studies in textiles as that provided her with the skills she needed to start her own business. “I had always been interested in clothing,” she said. “But I knew I just didn’t want to study fashion.” Her part-time work at a fruit and vegetable store and then in a deli at the QVM meant that Ms Voon had plenty of support behind her when she started Wendy Voon knits. “Having that association, you know a lot of faces and you know the people, and that’s really nice,” Ms Voon said. She decided to take the plunge when, “One day I noticed that a whole lot of pop-ups had gone up in what was the old building on Therry St, which has since been knocked down … that was kind of perfect – to try it out for four months.” “It’s a pretty unique opportunity to be able to do that without a massive financial risk and I didn’t have to pay three months’ worth of rent and finalise a lease or anything like that,” she said. Since then, Wendy Voon Knits has moved to Victoria St. “It kind of made sense to stay!”
Source: CBD News
Trade shocks induced by the tariff battle between the United States and China have undone three to five years worth of growth among global value chains in affected countries, according to a policy brief by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which said trade within those supply lines shrank in absolute terms along with other types of trade. The countries, however, will stay at the core of Asia-Pacific economic recovery even as global manufacturers consider moving production closer to home. “The trade policy shock is therefore very large,” a news agency reported quoting the UNDP report. “However, while there is some unraveling of global value chain linkages, there is by no means a wholesale disintegration of the model.” While the effect of the shocks is ‘far from negligible’, the absence of policies designed to disrupt production sharing makes it “extremely costly to radically alter the prevalence of global value chain trade”, the report said. Apart from the trade war, restrictive trade policies during the COVID-19 pandemic have also amplified shocks as producing countries restricted exports, the report stated. The supply troubles evolve as the cost of shipping goods across the globe is skyrocketing, threatening to boost consumer prices and compounding concerns in global markets already bracing for accelerating inflation. “What we’ve seen both because of the pandemic and because of the trade war is that countries, including China and the U.S., have actually diversified risk,” said Kanni Wignaraja, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP’s Asia-Pacific director. “Previously there was a lot of talk saying ‘Let’s go for least cost,’ and the cheapest option started stretching that global value chain,” she said. “Now we’ve seen this double shock, showing the advantage of our global value chain system because you’re starting to see the diversified risk, and more reliance on multiple suppliers in multiple countries.” The report found ‘significant potential’ for countries to boost trade through two mega agreements, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), both of which involve a number of economies in Asia. Nations participating in the CPTPP may enjoy the equivalent of 12 years of additional global value chain integration based on the rate observed between 2000 and 2018, while RCEP countries may see a boost equal to around five years, according to the report. The UNDP policy brief also recommended that Asian economies that rely on the export of goods like transport equipment, electronics, textiles and apparel, should focus on developing general redistribution policies and social-safety nets.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
BUILD-Policy Exchange survey finds, calls for tailored scheme Eighty-three per cent of the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises did not receive stimulus relief as it was not well-tailored and did not consider the challenges and needs of small entrepreneurs, a new survey found. Of the respondents, 69 per cent reported that they were unable to pay wages to staff in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the rapid survey of the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) and the Policy Exchange of Bangladesh. The situation has not improved: 61 per cent of respondents think their revenue would fall in 2021. The survey result was shared at a webinar styled "Covid Stimulus and Links to Employment, Consumption and Investment: The Bangladesh Experience, Global Lessons, and Priorities for Next Round Support". The survey, carried out in February this year, was based on the interviews of 50 CMSMEs and top officials of private banks. The CMSMEs represented major industries, including leather and leather goods, trading, textiles, light engineering, packaging, and agriculture. The sales of 86 per cent of the firms had been negatively impacted because of the pandemic, the survey found. Ninety-five per cent of firms reported a depressed demand compared to the pre-Covid scenario, in an indication that consumption and demand have not recovered. "All key growth drivers of Bangladesh were adversely impacted with the spread of Covid19 where CMSMEs were impacted the most. Many of them didn't receive any government incentive," said M Masrur Reaz, founder and chairman of the Policy Exchange of Bangladesh, a private policy and strategy advisory platform. "The design of the stimulus packages was not adequately inclusive because of a lack of consideration of the challenges and needs of small entrepreneurs." Using data from the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Reaz said the average revenue reduction for CMSMEs was 60 per cent in 2020. About half of them planned to lay off 50 per cent of staff to survive. "So, they need a second stimulus package," he said. The informal economy did not receive the expected benefit from the stimulus package, said Nihad Kabir, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She focused on the upgradation and modernisation of the education system of Bangladesh. The government will consider the demand of small businesses if a second stimulus package is formulated, said Planning Minister MA Mannan. "Best practices from developed countries should be considered to make the overall economic ecosystem of Bangladesh vibrant," he said. Social inclusive measures such as assisting youth and unemployed, accelerating vaccination programme, access to education, and mental health needed to be addressed and linked to the stimulus package, said Tuomo Poutiainen, country director of the International Labour Organisation. The skill ecosystem needs to be upgraded to build a technically and technologically sound workforce to attract FDI to the economic zones, he said. Employment generation should get the proper focus in incentive packages because the post-pandemic situation would not be the same, said Prof Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the Centre of Policy Dialogue. The involvement of NGOs and associations in the disbursement process of the special package would yield a better outcome, he added. The government has announced two stimulus packages for SMEs, but the disbursement process from commercial banks is not adequate. "So, many of them did not receive the benefits," said Md Masudur Rahman, chairperson of the SME Foundation. As most of the SMEs are in the informal sector and have no formal documents, banks are not giving loans to them, he said. "So, a structural change is necessary to ensure access to finance for SMEs." Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam said the expected results could not be achieved through the first package. Jamal Uddin, a general manager of Bangladesh Bank, said 73 per cent of the stimulus package for the CMSME sector had been disbursed, which benefited about one lakh entrepreneurs. Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abul Kasem Khan, chairperson of the BUILD, Asif Ibrahim, founder chairperson, and Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO of the platform, also spoke.
Source: The Daily Star
Fashion sustain, the international and multi-disciplinary conference format of Neonyt, will be held from July 6-8, 2021, during the digital FFW Studio of Frankfurt Fashion Week. Sustainability, technological innovations, and new value creations will be discussed in the conference in the form of panel discussions, talks, keynotes, and interactive formats. Held digitally due to coronavirus restrictions, this summer’s edition of the Fashionsustain conference is the place to be for all fashion enthusiasts, drivers of innovation and creative minds who wish to join forces and play an active role in this process. The future-relevant and challenging topics of sustainability, digitisation and innovation will be examined in great depth from different perspectives during keynotes, interviews, panel discussions and interactive formats, offering a trailblazing, progressive and future-oriented contribution to the current fashion discourse, according to a press release by Messe Frankfurt. The key topics that are currently challenging the sector, such as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the international fashion industry; the extent that textile production will shift from global to local in the long term; or how sustainability can be holistically integrated into processes and become a permanent fixture, will be discussed by moderator Alex Bohn (style director of F.A.Z. Quarterly) with Christopher Veit (CEO of Veit), Mariska Schennink (sustainability manager at Euretco Fashion) and other speakers from various fashion brands in the panel ‘Global supply. Local demand. Total change?’ In the panel ‘Same Goals. Different Systems. How transparency triggers responsibility’, initiated by Grüner Knopf and the German Society for International Cooperation, experts from Gru¨ner Knopf, fashion labels and, among others, Veronika Bates Kassatly (Woolmark) will be speaking to moderator Max Gilgenmann (founder and CEO of Studio MM04 and Neonyt’s Sustainability Content Consultant) about social justice within the textile supply chain and how to achieve it, according to Messe Frankfurt. The correlation between finances, sustainability and fashion: by specifically choosing credit borrowers based on their sustainability efforts, the financial services sector can contribute to a more sustainable future. What that really means, which repercussions this can have on lending and how else the industry can contribute to the transformation of the textile and fashion industry will be debated by Frank Wächter (global director treasury & insurance at Puma), Viktoria Kalb (global ESG & sustainability analyst at EMEA ESG research, UBS), Andreas Wagner (sustainable finance lead commercial banking Western Europe at HVB/Unicredit) and Ullrich Hartmann (partner, auditor, tax advisor, financial services, FS compliance at PwC) in a discussion entitled ‘Finance. How it triggers sustainability in fashion’. The two central topics of the second conference day are highly topical and, particularly in the context of FFW, take on a pivotal role. In the panel ‘Digital transformation. It is what you make of it’, initiated by PwC and moderated by Tim Dörpmund (head of online at TextilWirtschaft magazine), Patric Spethmann (COO of Marc O’Polo), Susanne Arnoldy (CIO Advisory at PwC), Andreas Krostewitz (senior manager valuation, modelling and analytics at PwC) and Philipp Vospeter (CEO of Westphalia DataLab) will be showing us how data and artificial intelligence can be key to excellent customer experiences and optimised forecasts and examining the significance of digital platforms for the retail business. Afterwards, Sam Field (RYOT international at The Fabric of Reality), Damara Inglês (designer at The Fabric of Reality), Kim Bernd (3D digital designer and founder of @3MBASSY Digital Design Studio) and Esther Perbandt (founder & designer at Esther Perbandt) will provide exciting insights into avatars, NFTs, virtual fashion shows and answers to questions about the future of fashion in the ‘Virtual Fashion. Me, Myself and avatar’ panel. Transparency along the textile supply chain is becoming increasingly relevant. And as the topic is closely linked with digital innovations, Lukas Pünder (co-founder and CEO of Retraced), Marian von Rappard (owner of Dawn Denim), Gediminas Mikutis (CTO and co-founder of Haelixa AG) and Shannon Mercer (CEO of Fibretraced) will be presenting various technical solutions that enable more transparency when buying clothing in the panel entitled ‘Transparency. The tech solutions for new supply and value chains’. In the ‘Sustainable Branding’ Design Talk by the German design council with experts including Lutz Dietzold (CEO of the German Design Council) and Bernd Draser (ecosign/Academy of Design), the focus will be on sustainable brand management, the development of a corresponding brand strategy and the crucial role of good sustainability communication.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
