However, the IIP in May was 13.9% lower than the pre-pandemic level (the same month in 2019). It also witnessed a sequential moderation in the wake of the localised lockdowns, suggesting a sustained industrial recovery is still far. The index of industrial production (IIP) grew 29.3% year-on-year in May, driven mainly by a favourable base. However, the IIP in May was 13.9% lower than the pre-pandemic level (the same month in 2019). It also witnessed a sequential moderation in the wake of the localised lockdowns, suggesting a sustained industrial recovery is still far. Government officials and analysts cautioned against reading too much into the rates of expansion, given that the pan-India lockdown in April-May 2020 had substantially hampered industrial production. IIP had crashed by 33.4% in May 2020. The government also revised IIP growth up to 134.6% for April from 126.6% reported earlier — this, too, was inflated by the base effect — and to -3.2% for February from -3.4%. The index levels for the overall IIP, its three sectors and all the use-based categories in May were lower than the pre-Covid levels of May 2019. Consumer durables and capital goods emerged as the worst-affected sectors in May, trailing the pre-Covid levels by 41.2% and 36.9%, respectively, Icra chief economist Aditi Nayar said. With the second Covid-19 wave waning and a phased unlocking under way, the sequential momentum has improved over a variety of high-frequency indicators, such as electricity generation, non-oil exports, petrol consumption, diesel consumption, GST e-way bills and vehicle registrations, in June. “However, the sequential improvement engendered by the states’ phased unlocking over the course of June 2021 is expected to be offset by a normalising base (-16.6% in June 2020; -33.4% in May 2020). Accordingly, we expect a further step-down in the pace of IIP growth to 15-20% in June,” Nayar said. Sunil Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings, said the output of primary, capital, intermediate, infrastructure, durable and non-durable goods trailed the pre-pandemic levels in the range of 6-41% in May. “Clearly the second wave is a setback for the industrial output, which had surpassed the pre-Covid level both at the aggregate and at the each of the use-based classification level in March 2021,” Sinha said.
Source: Financial Express
Piyush Goyal, the newly appointed textile minister, will soon review a proposed Rs 10,680 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the sector, according to reports. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Kulin Lalbhai, director of Arvind Fashions and Manoj Kumar Patodia, chairman of Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) explained this and also gave an overall outlook for the sector. “The logic behind the PLI is that India needs to diversify its export basket of products and the world has pivoted to manmade materials and technical textile is also growing and these are two sectors where India has not still achieved scale,” said Lalbhai. The scheme is still under development. So the exact details of how much investment, how much growth, how many incentives are still being tweaked. "We do expect the final structure of the scheme to come out over the next few weeks or months,” Lalbhai weighed in. There are other investment challenges because of the relatively smaller size of the sector. “We have a lot of fragmented industries. So it’s important that this scheme should take that into account,” said Patodia. “There is a good possibility to increase the investments in the cotton sector especially in knitted fabric and technical textile in cotton and in man-made fibre (MMF), which can give a big flip to the scheme. Therefore, we (the industry) want the cotton to be included in the PLI,” he added.
Source: CNBC 18
The Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) has suggested five points to boost the growth of the textile sector in Tamil Nadu that include enabling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to expand, devising a special theme to brand textile and apparel from the state as the most sustainable destination for fashion sourcing and exploring the Japanese market. An ITF delegation recently met the state’s textile and industry ministers in Chennai. The state can work out a road map to capitalise the opportunity emerging from the central government’s Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) scheme by creating an integrated and plug-and-play apparel park, it suggested. en to 15 small towns with good workforce availability may be picked up and infrastructure can be created for stitching facilities. This will spread the sector and help avoid overcrowding in a few clusters apart from generating employment in small towns. Cultivating a sustainable brand for textile-apparel from the state will help the sector capture the market share in value-added products as well, it said. The state government can facilitate a working group with 50 of apparel companies to work exclusively with the Japanese apparel market, ITF suggested. A scheme for medium and large companies can be conceptualised to run technical institutes within the campus with university certifications. This will help the sector in attracting talent, and in the process, a skilled workforce for the sector can be developed, the federation added.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Under fire from the industrial community over electricity regulatory measures, the Punjab government on Monday announced immediate withdrawal of all power restrictions that were imposed on industries across the state to deal with its shortage. The orders for withdrawal of all power regulatory restrictions were issued by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The power crisis was triggered by a delayed monsoon and an unprecedented surge in demand from both agricultural and domestic sectors. Reviewing the power situation in the state after the resumption of generation at one of the three non-functional units at Talwandi Sabo Thermal plant, the CM directed the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to ease all power regulatory restrictions on industrial consumers across the state with immediate effect. The chief minister was informed that the plant at Talwandi Sabo had resumed 660 MW production, improving the power situation in the state. The installed capacity of TSPL was 1,980 MW. The decision on the complete withdrawal of the restrictions was taken by the chief minister soon after PSPCL announced a similar but partial withdrawal in districts falling in central and border zones, said a spokesperson from the Chief Minister''s Office. The PSPCL had allowed all industries, except those using continuous power, to operate at full capacity from Monday. However, after the chief minister''s intervention, all industries across the state, including those using continuous power round the clock (textile, chemicals, and spinning mills, etc), can now operate to full capacity. Due to an unprecedented rise in power demand, the PSPCL had, as a temporary measure, ordered restrictions on industrial consumers of the state. It was aimed at providing continuous power supply to domestic consumers and eight hours power supply to the agriculture sector for paddy transplantation. Continuous process industries were allowed to operate at 50 per cent of their load, the spokesperson said. The PSPCL had not imposed any restrictions on small and medium supply industrial consumers, rice shellers, cattle feed units, call centres, mushroom farms, food processing units and other essential Industries/services from the beginning, the spokesperson further said. Punjab has 99,834 small power industrial consumers besides 30,176 medium power consumers, upon whom no usage restriction has been levied at all despite rising demand for power across the domestic sector. To meet the shortage, only large supply consumers (5,071 in number) which use 1000 KVA sanctioned load had been asked to use 100 KVA for 12 hours a day. Several industrial associations of Punjab on Saturday had held a protest in Ludhiana against the power regulatory measures imposed on the industry amid power crisis in the state. Punjab had been reeling under an unprecedented power shortage with urban and rural areas facing frequent power cuts and voltage fluctuations, amid scorching heat.
Source: Outlook India
The second wave of coronavirus infections has impacted the budding recovery in nonbank collections witnessed in Q3 FY2021 and Q4 FY2021, impacting the cash flow of the underlying borrowers and thereby further prolonging the recovery process, Ratings agency ICRA said. Restructured assets of non-bank lenders are estimated to double to up to 3.3 per cent by March 2022 largely because of the impact of the second wave of the pandemic, a report said on Monday. The same ratio had stood at 1.6 per cent as of March 2021, after the first wave of the pandemic. The pandemic had led the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make an exception by launching a loan recast facility for borrowers impacted by COVID-19. Ratings agency NSE -0.02 % said the restructured book for NBFCs (nonbank finance companies) is expected to be 4.1-4.3 per cent as of March 2022 (as against 2.2 per cent in March 2021), while the same is expected to be 2.0-2.2 per cent for housing finance companies (as against 1.0 per cent in March 2021). The second wave of coronavirus infections has impacted the budding recovery in nonbank collections witnessed in Q3 FY2021 and Q4 FY2021, impacting the cash flow of the underlying borrowers and thereby further prolonging the recovery process, the agency said. Its Vice-President A M Karthik said the nature of the underlying security governed the higher incidence of recasts for NBFCs, as against the housing finance companies (HFCs) which have home mortgages. "The target borrower segment also plays a key role as a high share of restructuring was observed in smaller entities (assets under management of less than Rs 5,000 crore). "Borrowers catered by these entities would have a relatively higher risk profile, also characterised by higher yields, which exposes them to increased vulnerabilities in a downcycle or a stressed scenario," he added. Vehicle, SME (small and medium enterprises) and personal loans, which accounted for the bulk of the NBFC credit, are faced with asset quality-related pressures during the last fiscal. While, entities with a sizeable share of new and heavy and medium commercial vehicles witnessed higher restructuring, and the same was modest for other segments like cars, two-wheelers, and tractors. Meanwhile, its peer Crisil said liquidity cover at NBFCs rated by it has improved from a year ago, putting them in a better position to service debt in the near term, which will cushion the impact of the pandemic. This trend is a change from last year, when assetquality and liquidity fears multiplied after a moratorium on repayments and stringent lockdowns affected collections. Collections have once again been affected in the current fiscal by the second wave, and the decline has been more pronounced in May (sequentially) because containment measures in most parts of the country kicked in only in the latter part of April, the rating agency said. Factors supporting the liquidity measures at NBFCs include fundraising through special government schemes, improving collections in the second half of fiscal 2021, and limited disbursements, it said.
Source: Economic times
Demand for clothing, which is a non-essential item, with discretionary spending has been impacted, said Raymonds in its latest annual report while talking about branded textiles, its flagship business. Terming the pandemic-impacted April-June 2020 quarter as "the darkest hour of the fiscal", the country's leading player in suiting and shirting NSE 4.91 % said a recovery in the segment would take a "mid-term time frame" when life is back to normalcy, primarily driven by occasion- and celebration-led dressing along with ongoing vaccination. Demand for clothing, which is a non-essential item, with discretionary spending has been impacted, said Raymonds in its latest annual report while talking about branded textiles, its flagship business. It expects "modest growth" in the fabric business with increasing competition from readymade garments, besides low traction for the near term in the exports market due to the pandemic. In 2020-21, sales of branded textiles had declined nearly 46 per cent to Rs 1,572 crore, as against Rs 2,917 crore of 2019-20. While discussing the outlook for the segment, Raymond said: "With vaccination gaining momentum, there is an uptick in consumer sentiments leading to pent-up demand, increased footfalls and higher conversion rate." "Key sales drivers like impending wedding season, festivities and markets reopening fully are expected to amplify While talking about its branded apparel business, which has four differentiated brands - Raymond Ready to Wear (RRTW), Park Avenue, ColorPlus and Parx - had witnessed a 71.8 per cent decline in sales to Rs 457 crore in 2020-21 as against Rs 1,619 crore a year ago. "The second wave of the pandemic further dampened consumer sentiments and discretionary spends that are likely to dominate the consumption landscape," it said. Raymond said it is facing challenges such as low consumer sentiments, heavy discounting by players to clear old inventory including on e-commerce marketplaces, and extended end of season sale (EoSS). Alluring price cuts are also mounting pressure on margins, it added. Besides, retail operations of the company, which operates in several formats including The Raymond Shop, exclusive brand outlets for its in-house brands, was also "majorly impacted" due to the lockdowns in H1 FY2020-21, it added. The company added that consumer demand picked up in the second half with Unlock-1, festivities, EoSS and wedding season, it added. "The unprecedented market disruptions and continuously prevailing uncertainties have impacted the consumer sentiments, leading to limited visibility for the short to mid term," said Raymond while discussing the outlook of the retail segment. The retail segment has challenges as the pandemic altered the trend of witnessing the substantial footfalls in malls mainly impacting enterprise business objects (EBOs) for short to mid term. Besides, it is also facing round-the-year sales promotions and deep discounting by ecommerce marketplaces. Moreover, during the pandemic going with a shift in consumer behaviour towards online, Raymond enhanced its digital capabilities. "As we enhanced and strengthened our digital capabilities to enable seamless customer journeys across platforms, the challenging year triggered us to present an increased number of technology interfaces for consumer convenience and safety for shopping both virtually and physically," it said. Addressing shareholders, Raymond Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania said COVID-19 demarcated consumer products into essential and non-essential categories, which took over spending trends in the near term. "The first quarter was the darkest hour of the fiscal when neither businesses had an idea how to deal with the pandemic nor they were aware of the severity of the impact. Given the lack of short-term visibility, it was time to introspect and undertake immediate measures to stay on course," The first two quarters of the fiscal were committed to ensuring that these metrics are prioritised and at Raymond, "we committed ourselves to achieve the same", Singhania added. "We took some tough decisions during the year that reaped results for us, as we pared debt in FY 2020-21 demonstrating our resilience, especially during the pandemic. "Having witnessed the second wave of COVID-19 causing more devastation and its reluctance to go away soon, the key for the economy to come back on track is through the accelerated pace of vaccination," he said. The company also operates in tools and hardware and auto components segments. They, according to Singhania, were the "dark horses" and "defied all odds posed by the pandemic". The segments delivered high growth rates both in terms of revenue and Ebitda margins. Its realty business has emerged as the "new core" of the company, he added. Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Raymond's consolidated revenue stood at Rs 3,648 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. It had a revenue of Rs 6,578 crore in 2019-20.
Source: Economic Times
From darker colours to no denim — here is a guide to the best and most comfortable monsoon fashion. Even if you are utterly captivated by the beauty of rains, the prospect of going somewhere drenched is not appealing to anyone. The monsoon season is beautiful but only when enjoyed from a balcony or window. When you step out and encounter the drab and dreary weather that blankets the entire city, you experience the challenges of the rainy season. The monsoon is undoubtedly one of the most challenging times to look your best. With regular rains, potholes and temperatures that change in seconds from simply humid to completely wet, one must be a little more careful when dressing up. Here are seven comfy monsoon wardrobe ideas to make your attire look very stylish while remaining comfortable without exerting extra effort.
Wear cotton clothes
For the monsoons, cotton is the most trustworthy and safe fabric, which looks quite lovely. But it is not just about choosing cotton, selecting the right outfit also matters. Cotton shirts and cotton dresses, for example, are suitable for children. The rainy season is also the most incredible time for ladies to wear cotton dresses. If you are attending a party, cotton sarees would be a pleasant change. For men, cotton tees and shirts can keep them comfy while being chic.
No more denim Monsoon makes commuting difficult due to the muddy season. Even if denim is the most fashionable wardrobe staple, you must avoid them while it rains. Whether in the form of a jacket or pants, denim will make monsoon considerably more difficult due to their poor quality and inability to dry rapidly than other textiles. Cropped pants and crop tops, T-shirts with cotton shirts, or tube tops with skirts are options to choose from other than denim.
Avoid full-length bottoms
If you enjoy strolling in the rain, you will not enjoy walking with wet and muddy bottoms. Consequently, consider palazzos, midi skirts, wide-leg trousers and slim pants with a loose fit, as they are more convenient to carry in the monsoon. Monsoon adds various outfits to your wardrobe that will fit with any look: Mini dresses for a party, blazer dresses for work, maxi dresses for informal meetings and drawstring dresses for weekends.
Scarf it up
Wearing a statement scarf is an incredible hack not only to look stylish but also to protect your freshly washed hair from raindrops. Choose one with a fashionable print, such as a geometric pattern, a botanical pattern, or an Aztec design. Pair them with flowery dresses or casual maxis for a look that is both stylish and functional. You can wear it around your neck to protect yourself from cold winds and wrap it around your head when the rain starts to pour. Apart from protecting yourself, it would be best to cover your mobile phone with a case. Use an iPhone 12 cover, which is the cover for the latest iPhone. Many people purchase the iPhone 11 covers in many styles and colours to keep their smartphones safe.
Prefer loose attires
After getting wet, body-hugging clothes tend to tighten even more. This prevents your skin from breathing, resulting in rashes or allergies. Choose loose-fitting clothes to give your outfit a unique look. During monsoon, loose shirts, kurtis and oversized jackets are ideal. Off-shoulder or trim-sleeved tops will keep you fresh while preventing water from clogging your sleeves.
Play with colours
Monsoon is all about good vibes and having a good time, so why not include that in your fashion sense as well? Bright colours make you look even more lively. Light colours like white and beige should be avoided during this dark season since they become translucent. Also, rain marks tend to show up on light colours, so choose dark colours. When coupled with neutrals, vibrant pinks, blues, oranges, and yellows are a great choice.
Comfortable footwear Just like garments, you should wear shoes that are pleasant on the feet and safe during monsoon. Heels, stilettoes and any other closed shoes should be avoided. Also wearing leather and velvet shoes is not a good idea.— Rubber footwear, jelly shoes and bright-colored flip-flops are good options. Also, wear waterproof socks to keep your feet dry and safe from bacteria.
Source: The Print
The police have primarily identified 530 factories, mostly readymade garment and textile units, which may face labour unrest over non-payment of wages and festival allowances before Eid-ul-Azha to be celebrated on July 21. Eid-ul-Azha is one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims. The Industrial Police has prepared the list of 530 factories, including 372 RMG and textile units. Of the factories, 276 are members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, 63 members of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, 33 registered with the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, 19 industrial units operating under the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and 139 non-RMG factories. The factories are located in six zones — Dhaka except Dhaka metropolitan area, Gazipur, Chattogram, Narayanganj, Mymensingh and Khulna — under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Police. The Industrial Police has found that 119 factories in the Dhaka zone, 243 in Gazipur, 92 in Chattogram, 53 in Narayanganj, 16 in Mymensingh and seven factories in the Khulna zone might face unrest. ‘Some of the readymade garment factories are facing a crisis of liquidity due to the Covid pandemic and unrest may take place in the units over the payment of wages and festival allowances,’ BGMEA senior vice-president SM Mannan Kochi told New Age on Monday. He said that BGMEA teams were monitoring nearly 300 factories closely in which unrest might take place due to the non-payment of wages and allowances. ‘We are trying to resolve the problems through discussions with the factory authorities and banks,’ Kochi said. He said that the issues related to workers’ wages and festival allowances would be discussed in the meeting of the consultative committee on RMG to be held at the labour ministry today. BKMEA director Fazle Ehsan Shamim said that 2 to 3 per cent of the RMG factories was facing problems but hopefully, all the units would be able to overcome the situation and workers would get their wages and allowances before Eid.
Source: New Age
The policies, if approved, would put the bloc - the world's third-largest economy - on track to meet its 2030 goal of reducing planet-warming emissions by 55% from 1990 levels. The European Union is set to take the lead in climate policy action among the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters this week, with a raft of ambitious plans designed to cut emissions drastically over the next decade. The policies, if approved, would put the bloc - the world's third-largest economy - on track to meet its 2030 goal of reducing planet-warming emissions by 55% from 1990 levels. The "Fit for 55" package being released on Wednesday will face months of negotiations between the 27 EU countries and the European Parliament. Other major economies including China and the United States - the world's top two emitters - have committed to achieving net zero emissions, which scientists say the world must reach by 2050 to avoid catastrophic climate change. But the EU is the first to overhaul its legislation to drive greener choices within this decade among the bloc's 25 million businesses and nearly half a billion people. "Everybody has a target. But translating it into policies that lead to real emission reductions, that's the most difficult part," said Jos Delbeke, a former senior policymaker who developed some of the EU's flagship climate policies. By 2019, the EU had cut its emissions by 24% from 1990 levels.
ECONOMY-WIDE
The European Commission will propose 12 policies targeting energy, industry, transport and the heating of buildings. Emissions in Europe's electricity sector are falling fast, but other sectors have been stuck. Emissions from cars, planes and ships, which make up a quarter of the EU total, are rising. Buildings produce a third of the bloc's emissions and, like Europe's factories, many homes use heat produced from fossil fuels. The draft measures aim to encourage companies and consumers to choose greener options over polluting ones. For example, a leaked draft of one proposal would tax polluting jet fuel for the first time and give low-carbon aviation fuels a 10-year tax holiday. A revamp of the EU carbon market is also expected to hike CO2 costs for industry, power plants and airlines, and force ships to pay for their pollution. The list of proposals is long. Tougher EU CO2 standards for cars could effectively ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars in 2035. EU countries will face more ambitious targets for expanding renewable energy. Brussels will also announce the details of its world-first carbon border tariff, targeting imports of goods produced abroad with high emissions such as steel and cement. That has unnerved EU trading partners, including Russia and China.
CLIMATE POLICIES COME HOME
The political road ahead will likely be rough, as EU countries and the European Parliament negotiate the proposals. Already, the plans have exposed familiar rifts between richer western and Nordic EU states where electric vehicle sales are soaring, and poorer eastern countries that are worried about the social cost of weaning their economies off coal. EU member capitals are particularly worried about the Commission's plan to launch a carbon market for transport and home heating, potentially raising household fuel bills. The Commission has promised a social fund to shield low-income households from the costs, and is urging countries to use the EU's 800-billion-euro COVID-19 recovery fund to help people insulate their homes and create jobs in clean technologies such as hydrogen. By making climate policies more visible to EU citizens than ever before, "Fit for 55" is set to test public support for ambitious climate action. "There's no hiding that this package comes in the middle of a massive socio-economic crisis," said Manon Dufour of independent climate change think-tank E3G. The EU "has to be even more careful about the social impacts". Policymakers are also braced for a storm of industry lobbying. Europe's steel and cement sectors are already fighting plans to end free CO2 permits and some of the sectors due to be covered by the carbon border tariff say they do not want to be included. Past attempts to tighten CO2 standards for carmakers have faced fierce industry opposition. But with European giants like Volkswagen already committed to ending combustion-engine car sales in Europe in the 2030s, some governments say now is the time to bring laggards into line. "The Commission needs to basically wake up and smell the coffee - that now is the time to actually cement that into legislation," an EU diplomat said regarding the potential proposal to ban sales of new combustion engine cars by 2035.
FIRST-MOVER (DIS)ADVANTAGES
With its world-first package, the EU also aims to burnish its global climate leadership position. It is unclear if that will be enough, however, to elicit similarly ambitious action from other major economies at the U.N. climate conference in November in Glasgow, Scotland. "The challenge is that other big players - China and the U.S. specifically - will need to be on board," said Tom Rivett-Carnac, the U.N.'s chief political strategist in the run-up to the 2015 Paris Agreement. "Whether the EU can achieve this diplomatically remains to be seen." Brussels says it is time to take Europe's climate policies global. Much of the diplomatic lift required will be on the carbon border tariff, which the EU says will put its firms on more equal footing with competitors in countries with weaker carbon policies. The proposals would also push EU industry to invest in expensive green technologies. Moving early could give European firms a competitive edge in global markets for new products like low-carbon steel produced from green hydrogen, but producing those products will cost manufacturers more. "At the end of this transformation, our economy will look a lot better, and we can get the climate crisis under control," Frans Timmermans, the EU Commissioner in charge of climate policy, told CNN last week. "And that's the whole point."
Source: Economic Times
