NATIONAL

• Textile exports may cross $40 b this fiscal: Minister
• Govt begins settling dues under TUFS
• Gangwar inaugurates garment unit, hostel
• Thanks to diesel price cut, truck rentals drop 5-6% in January
• Focusing on reviving private investments: Arun Jaitley
• Indian products to face tough competition in Iran: FIEO
• Rupee ends above 68, hits 29-month low vs dollar
• Proposed work visa curbs by UK, new irritant for India-EU FTA talks
• Sudan offers three oil blocks to India for exploration
• Global Crude oil price of Indian Basket was US$ 24.47 per bbl on 21.01.2016

INTERNATIONAL

• 'Chinese textile firms should set up production overseas'
• Russian Textile Association calls to develop textile industry
• Pakistan textile exports fell 8.93pc in first half of fy15-16
• Textile, footwear bank on EFTA trade boost: Indonesia
• Textile firms in US agree to Pacific trade deal
• Texcare International 2016 to focus on textile innovations and textile care
• Fewer chemicals for textile printing
• China, Egypt sign financing deals worth at least $1.7 bln

Textile Raw Material Price 2016-01-21

Source: Global Textiles

Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.15199 USD dtd.21/1/2016)

The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com.  SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.

Textile exports may cross $40 b this fiscal: Minister

“Textile exports are expected to cross $40 billion this fiscal,” Union Minister of State for Textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar said here. This is expected to be lower than the target of $47.5 billion set by the government for textile and clothing for 2015-16. Reacting to a question on the industry’s performance, Gangwar conceded that it was not doing well.

Textile hub

Acknowledging this region as the hub for textiles, the Minister, who was at Neelambur near here to inaugurate the Centre of Excellence for Industrial/ Home Textiles, said technical textiles has differentiated itself from apparels or textile materials and products used for non- aesthetic purposes with emphasis on technical performance. “It is an emerging sector for textiles and the potential remains largely untapped in India. The projected growth rate for technical textile is about 20 per cent year-on-year,” he said and stressed the need for improved focus on this sector of the textile industry

Capital subsidy

Highlighting the impetus given to technical textiles, the initiatives and schemes rolled out for growth and development of the sector, Gangwar said, “Under the ATUF (Amended Technology Upgradation Fund) scheme, technical textile machinery is eligible for 50 per cent capital subsidy. The government has also launched the Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT) with a fund outlay of Rs. 200 crore.

Anu Garg, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said the CoE is part of the TMTT. The government has facilitated setting up of 8 CoE with fund allocation of Rs. 25 crore each. Admitting to gaps in this initiative, she said, “First, we must leverage on the facilities and focus on the incubation centre in the eight CoEs,” and urged the participants to work with speed, based on industry requirements. Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta said the Textiles Ministry has facilitated setting up of the facility and it was now up to the industry to partner with the government.

SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line

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Govt begins settling dues under TUFS

The government has initiated the process of settlement of Rs 3,000 crore dues related to some 'blackout and left-out' cases which found no mention in the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) for the textile sector. The development is seen as a major relief for the sector. "The process of settlement of dues related to the old cases has started," Textile Secretary Rashmi Verma said. Last week, Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar had said that the government was working to resolve the issue of settlement of committed liabilities of around Rs 3,000 crore arising out of 'blackout and leftout' period cases under technology upgradation scheme (TUFS) for textile industry. Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) Secretary General Binoy Job said the quantum of liabilities under the blackout and left-out period cases was around Rs 3,000 crore. The settlement of the committed liabilities had been a grey area after the government did not mention anything about it when it notified ATUFS for textile sector last week.

The Union Cabinet approved the ATUFS in December in place of the Revised Restructured TUFS (RRTUFS) for technology upgradation of textile industry, a move expected to boost job creation and exports in the sector. During 2010-11, the RRTUFS was suspended for 10 months but eventually restored as a closed-ended scheme and restricted to future sanctions and committed liabilities reported by banks for sanctions already issued. The closed ended scheme was introduced without sufficient notice from the government for preparation on part of lending institutions, according to industry officials. Those who had invested in those 10 months in the so-called blackout period were left out and are still awaiting a decision on the eligibility of TUF scheme. Meanwhile, Gangwar has said the Textiles Ministry may approach the Cabinet for its approval for the new national textiles policy that seeks to create 35 million jobs and boost exports to over $300 billion. "The draft policy is ready and discussions are on. We hope to place it before the Union Cabinet in a month's time," Gangwar said at the inauguration of the India International Garment Fair (IIGF) in New Delhi.

SOURCE: Fibre2fashion

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Gangwar inaugurates garment unit, hostel

Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar inaugurated the Palladam Hi-tech Weaving Park (PHWP) Hostel Block in Tamil Nadu for textile workers under Scheme for Textile Industry Workers’ Accommodation (STIWA) and an apparel manufacturing unit of Bannari Amman Spinning Mills Limited under Scheme for Textile Industry Workers’ Accommodation (SAGAM), The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) said in a press release. Gangwar also laid the foundation stone for apparel manufacturing unit of BKS Textiles Pvt Limited under Scheme for Additional Grant for Apparel Manufacture (SAGAM). The Central Government provides 50 per cent subject to a maximum of Rs.3.00 crores grant under STIWA for workers’ hostel and 40 per cent subject to a maximum of Rs.10.00 crores grant under SAGAM for establishing garmenting units in Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) parks to encourage value addition and create new jobs.

After visiting the park, the Gangwar appreciated the facilities provided in the park and also excellent team work of the members of PHWP. Prior to the inauguration, M.Senthilkumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Palladam Hi-Tech Weaving Park made a presentation to the Minister highlighting the features and progress of the park. Senthilkumar is also the Chairman of SIMA. The Palladam Hi-tech Weaving Park, Palladam was the first park to be developed under SITP of the Textiles Minister by availing 40 per cent grant from Central Government and 9 per cent grant from State Government. The park houses 90 factories with world class infrastructure facilities including uninterrupted power supply through dedicated feeder (currently cheaper by Rs.1.10 per unit), water supply, training centre, hostel facilities for the workers and all other infrastructure facilities. The Palladam cluster has around 1.5 lakh looms and provides direct jobs to over three lakh people.

SOURCE: Fibre2fashion

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Thanks to diesel price cut, truck rentals drop 5-6% in January

Truck rentals dropped by 5-6 per cent in January 2016 compared with December 2015, after oil marketing firms had cut the diesel price by ₹1.91 in two tranches on January 1 and January 15, says Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT). A steady and healthy flow of winter fruit and vegetable crops in most parts of the country has not been able to hold truck rentals at last month’s level, which saw a 2-2.5 per cent increase during December 2015 because the cargo offerings from factory gates have seen a significant cut. It has adversely impacted the round trips by 25-30 per cent in the New Year as consumer spending too dropped after the festival season ended. Exports also continue to remain in the negative territory.

In a related move, IFTRT said that NHAI’s decision to control overloading on highways has the potential to increase the demand for trucks and trailers at least by 25-30 per cent. It can also help optimise fleet utilisation, and result in firming up of truck rentals. But, the NHAI’s decision is stuck due to the laxity on the part of toll collectors, many of whom allegedly underreport toll collections at one end and also turn a blind eye to overloading by fleet operators that regularly use the National Highways.

SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line

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Focusing on reviving private investments: Arun Jaitley

Confident of utilising the headroom available to the Indian economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said it needs some additional growth engines and the focus now is on reviving private investments. Inviting foreign players to invest in the infrastructure space, he exuded confidence that the stuck reform measures like GST would go through as the numbers in the Upper House will change favourably soon. No reform proposal has actually got stuck for long so far despite India being a 'noisy democracy', he said. Jaitley was speaking at a breakfast session on 'India -- The next growth engine of the world', organised by industry body CII and consultancy BCG here on the sidelines of the WEF Annual Meeting. "We have a very noisy democracy... But I am finding that there are more people who want to support the growth and the others are very minuscule minority... Any economy needs multiple engines of growth," he said. "In the past we had fewer such engines and we need a few more. Public investment is one that we are doing. We are concentrating on infrastructure and for the first time in history we have been able to rationalise the subsidies," the Finance Minister added. According to him, people are eventually going to pay for the goods and services they want to buy and for the weaker sections technology would be used to ensure that the benefits reach the right target group.

Noting that a series of reform measures are pen