According to the data, USD 8.67 billion per week is almost 20 per cent more than the weekly run rate of USD 7 billion clocked this year.The country's exports rose by 23.69 per cent to USD 34.06 billion in January. India's exports grew by 28.51 per cent to USD 8.67 billion during February 1-7 on account of healthy growth in sectors such as petroleum, engineering and gems and jewellery, according to the preliminary data of the commerce ministry. The exports during the first week of this month rose by about 31 per cent. According to the data, USD 8.67 billion per week is almost 20 per cent more than the weekly run rate of USD 7 billion clocked this year. The country's exports rose by 23.69 per cent to USD 34.06 billion in January. Cumulatively, exports during April-January 2021-22 rose by 46.53 per cent to USD 335.44 billion as against USD 228.9 billion in the same period last year.
Source: Economic Times
Industry bodies made their pitch before the group of ministers nominated by the GST council to undertake rate rationalisation. The panel headed by Karnataka's chief minister is looking at the current GST structure and tax rates to see if there is room for any rationalisation. Industry bodies made their pitch before the group of ministers nominated by the GST council to undertake rate rationalisation. The panel headed by Karnataka's chief minister is looking at the current GST structure and tax rates to see if there is room for any rationalisation. CNBC-TV18 learns that textiles, FMCG, agri and food commodities sector have sought a status quo on rates. It is learnt that states are not in favour of any major rate change but are comfortable with correction of inverted duty structure.
Source: Times of India
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan will travel to India today to advance negotiations on a free trade agreement and promote Australia as a premium destination for students and tourists. Mr Tehan will have several meetings with his Indian counterpart, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal to further negotiations on the India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). “Mr Goyal and I have been in regular contact over the Christmas/New Year period because we are both committed to concluding an interim free trade agreement. Nothing can replace face-to-face meetings to help speed up the process in the interest of both countries.” “Australia and India are important trading partners, and we share a strong desire to further enhance our bilateral trade relationship. “A free trade agreement with India would be a boon for Australian businesses, farmers and workers, creating new jobs and opportunities with one of the world's largest and fastest developing economies. “CECA is a potential game-changer in opening opportunities for both Australia and India. It is also an important piece of our post-COVID economic recovery,” Mr Tehan said. Minister Tehan will also sign a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the Australian Government with the Indian Government to promote further travel and tourism between the two countries.
Source: Trade Minister Australia
Upendra Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles. The Govt has received a good response for the PLI Scheme so far. 72 companies have registered while 46 have submitted the draft application for the PLI Scheme for the Textile sector. The last date for submission of the application is 14th Feb. He hopes that funds/incentives allocated for PLI Scheme, i.e, close to Rs 10,700 crore will be fully utilized. MITRA Scheme: the Centre is in constant touch and dialogues with the States. 15th March is the last date for submission of application for the MITRA scheme. So far only Andhra Pradesh submitted the formal interest. Hope that near to deadline many more states may come forward for having one National Textile Park for their respective State. Raw Cotton or natural cotton prices are high in the market which is good for the cotton farmers. The cotton acreage which is low this year is likely to go up for next year, as farmers are getting good returns for the cotton crop. For the textile Manufacturers, govt is thinking to allow the imports of Extra Long Staple Cotton. The proposal has already been taken up with Revenue Dept. A separate HSN code to allow the imports for ELS Cotton is likely to be issued soon. Imports of ELS Cotton to provide immediate relief to the Textile industry. FTA with Canada, UAE, Australia may soon be announced. This will help the textile sector in boosting exports. Also, the undue advantage that Bangladesh, Vietnam, or Pakistan is having will be neutralised.
Source: Times Now News
The fashion industry is one of the key consumers of natural resources such as water and energy. This widespread consumption due to fast fashion has devastating impacts on people and the planet. It is now more urgent than ever to shift from a linear – take, make, use, dispose – model to a circular model or circular economy where waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use longer, and natural systems can regenerate. Mukul Agrawal, Chief Sustainability Officer, Birla Cellulose, shares his view on circular textiles and how brand Liva Reviva incorporates them in their products. Tell us about circular textiles and their importance for the planet and the industry? An estimated 110 million tons of material is used in the fashion industry annually and more than 90 million tons of fashion waste goes to landfill and incineration every year. As an estimate, only 1% of the material is recycled today. This widespread consumption due to fast fashion has devastating impacts on people and the planet, including its biodiversity. It is now more urgent than ever to shift from linear – take, make, use, dispose – model to a circular model or circular economy where waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use for longer, and natural systems can regenerate. Polyester dominates the industry with 65% share in the material basket and polyester garments cannot be recycled due to technological limitations. Also, it is not biodegradable at the end of life, creating significant issues of land and water pollution when leaked to environment. Cotton is about 25% an agricultural fibre. Man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCF) (viscose, lyocell, modal) constitute of 8% of total fibre basket. The current innovations are now making it possible for cotton waste to be recycled into viscose and lyocell processes. The products like Liva Reviva use industrial cotton waste as feedstock. The mechanical recycling of fabrics has also started; however, it has limitations in quality of fabric and fibre that can be produced using this process. The recycling industry is at a nascent stage and has huge opportunity to rapidly grow if brands start consuming circular materials in larger quantities. Transitioning to a circular economy is a win-win proposition – reducing pressure on natural resources while reducing waste going to landfill and incineration. How does Liva Reviva incorporate circular textiles in its products? Please elaborate on the entire process, right from product design. Responsibly produced MMCFs have emerged as one of the most sustainable fibre choices due to their sustainability credentials. MMCFs are made from natural and renewable wood sourced from sustainably managed forests and are made using the closed-loop process, which has a much lower environmental impact and compared to other fibres, MMCFs are biodegradable in soil, water and marine environment and are easily compostable at the end of life. With the advancement of technology, the waste cotton from pre- and post-consumer waste can now be recycled back into the viscose fibre which can replace use of virgin wood-based pulp, thus providing a great potential of making a huge shift from a linear business model to a circular business model. Birla Cellulose has developed an innovative in-house proprietary technology for recycling pre-consumer cotton waste to fresh viscose fibres, akin to regular fibres and launched commercially as “Liva Reviva” with 20% to 30% feedstock as pre- consumer waste in 2020. The recycled fibre Liva Reviva is RCS (Recycled Claim Standard) certified. We strongly believe that the development of Next Generation solutions and a Circular Business Model will require like- minded organisations to work together and facilitate & support each other in this journey. The Liva Reviva production also involves development of reverse logistics for waste collection and we have worked with our value chain partners and some leading brands to establish the waste supply networks that collect the industrial cotton waste, cleaning and segregating the waste and transporting it to our facilities for recycling. It is important that the reverse logistics of waste collection is established as currently this waste is going to incineration or downcycling. Birla Cellulose is aggressively working on scaling the next generation fibres to a level of 100,000 tons by 2024 and increasing the recycled content and increased use of postconsumer waste and is committed to accelerate innovations that are aligned with UN SDGs 2030. Can you quantify the positive impact that Liva Reviva can create on the environment through this process? Circular fibres such as Liva Reviva have several environmental benefits such as reduced waste, lower water & chemical use, and energy consumption while saving forests, preventing carbon emissions, and protecting the planet. Currently, 90 million tons of waste is going to landfill and only 1-2 % is being recycled. So there is an enormous potential to scale up recycling in the textile industry. When we scale the recycling of waste, it reduces the pressure on fresh raw material, woodbased pulp, which is already a stressed commodity. Sustainably managed forests are limited and sustainably sourced wood has limited availability. The higher recycling of cotton would have a positive impact on this in longer term as we scale up Liva Reviva. Liva Reviva has several ecological benefits in addition to circularity; it has lower water consumption and lower GHG emissions as compared to generic viscose based on Higg MSI tool provided by SAC. In addition to that, it consumes very low water compared to other fibres like cotton and conventional viscose. Sustainably produced MMCFs from sustainably-sourced wood are one of the most versatile fibres and best placed due to their sustainability credentials such as being made using closed-loop technologies with low environmental impact and very low emissions; applying principles of Circular Economy thereby minimising the use of natural resources. Brands and consumers looking for more sustainable fibre and fibres like Liva Reviva are apt solution. These sustainable fibres are versatile and are now preferred over other fibres. Moreover, fossil based fibres are generating microfibres which are leading to microfibre pollution and harming the marine biodiversity as these fibres takes centuries to degrade. MMCF are biodegradable in a very short span of time (in a few weeks) and also do not have any harmful impact on soil, marine and water environment. Please elaborate on Liva Reviva garments that incorporate circular textiles. The brands have started to use the Liva Reviva fibres in their collections and many brands are working on new collections and designs. These are focused on several segments such as ladies’ wear, kids’ wear, youth and others. Some of the renowned international and domestic brands use Liva Reviva for their collection. How do you market the importance of fashion made using circular textiles to customers? Today, the world is looking for solutions to the fashion industry’s problems of environmental pollution, and sustainably produced MMCF provides a great solution and choice for a more sustainable fashion. In the western part of the world, a part of the demand of sustainable fibre is already being driven by consumers who are looking for more sustainable material choices and also the recycling industry is growing faster including re-commerce, take-back programmes, reuse of garments and recycling of garments. Our role is to create awareness among the consumers on negative aspects of fast fashion and to increase their knowledge on environmental impacts created by the increasing consumption of garments. The amount of microplastics in the ocean today is also causing great degree of concern in the consumers and they are switching to natural and bio-degradable materials like cellulosic fibres from synthetic fibres like polyester, etc. We also work closely with brand partners to build communication programmes where the benefits of recycled fibre-based garments can be communicated to end consumers in an easy, accurate and meaningful way.
Source: India Retailing
The think tanks participated in the interaction includes National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and ICRIER. Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday interacted with over 65 think tanks on the "macroeconomic perspective" of the economy and the Union Budget 2022-23. The think tanks participated in the interaction includes National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and ICRIER. "During the fifth meeting, in the series of engagements with #thinktanks, #NITIAayog VC @RajivKumar1 interacted with over 65#ThinkTanks on the #Budget2022-23 and the macro-economic perspective of the #Indian Economy," the Niti Aayog said in a tweet.
Source: Economic Times
A digital rupee will be like banknotes, but minus the ATMs. Users will be able to transfer purchasing power from their deposit accounts into their smartphone wallets in the form of online tokens, which will be a direct liability of the Reserve Bank of India — just like cash. India has surprised the payments world by announcing that its central bank will issue a digital currency as early as the coming financial year, a crucial decision that most other major economies are refusing to make in a hurry. According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, an electronic representation of India’s legal tender will give a big boost to its digital economy. How valid is that claim, and how risky is a hasty transition to a central bank digital currency, or CBDC? A digitalrupee will be like banknotes, but minus the ATMs. Users will be able to transfer purchasing power from their deposit accounts into their smartphone wallets in the form of online tokens, which will be a direct liability of the Reserve Bank of India — just like cash. Retail access to the central bank’s IOUs may not be a big deal in countries with wellcapitalized financial systems. But this is a major benefit in India. As researcher Bhargavi Zaveri observes in the blog IndiaCorpLaw, depositors at 21 Indian lenders have been restricted from withdrawing their funds due to bank distress in the last few years. “A CBDC, which is a liability of the RBI, will mitigate the risk of losses that Indian depositors face when dealing with commercial banks,” she says. Consumers may find the digital rupee to be a safer alternative to bank deposits, which underpin 76 trillion rupees ($1 trillion) in annual real-time payments via apps such as Walmart Inc.’s PhonePe, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Pay and the homegrown Paytm. But therein lies the risk as well. If electronic cash becomes popular, and the RBI places no limit on the amount that can be stored in mobile wallets, weaker banks may struggle to retain sticky, low-cost deposits. And even as they lose that cushion, lenders may be reluctant to shed their loan assets and sacrifice profits. Their less-liquid balance sheets could leave them vulnerable to bank runs. All economies are mindful of this threat to financial stability. Yet, advanced nations also worry about the dwindling use of banknotes, especially after the pandemic. As more purchases go online, the basis of trust in demand deposits — that they convert to cash at face value — might get reduced to a theoretical construct. A digital currency as a public utility could keep the notion of convertibility grounded in daily reality. In India, though, there’s no such urgency because cash is far from dying. Banknotes account for about 15% of money supply, compared with 1% in Sweden. Yet, the Riksbank is in no hurry to embrace CBDCs. After five years of weighing different architectures and running pilots, the Swedish monetary authority is still to take a final decision on whether to issue an ekrona. The U.S. Federal Reserve is seeking the public’s views on whether to provide an official tender to compete against private stablecoins riding on the dollar as the world’s most popular unit of account. The digital euro is in a 24-month investigation phase. If all goes well, the European Central Bank may offer it by 2025. Japan may delay a call to 2026. After judging the risks and rewards, Singapore has taken a pass on CBDCs for now. India’s rushed deadline seems to be at least partly a response to the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, though it’s hard to see how an unremunerated means of payment can wean the public off the get-rich-quick lure of a speculative asset class. The other reason for hurry may be a desire to head off China, which is showcasing the digital yuan at the Beijing Winter Olympics. By early November some 140 million individuals had signed up for the e-CNY. But even in the People’s Republic, there is no national rollout date, and Alipay and WeChat Pay retain their stranglehold on electronic payments. Besides, Beijing’s intention to promote a rival to the dollar in cross-border trade and finance — which is presumably what worries New Delhi — will only become clear after the digital yuan makes its appearance in Hong Kong, perhaps via the wealth connect plan for the socalled Greater Bay Area. Any role for a digital rupee in India’s fast-growing online economy is fuzzy. Unlike perfectly anonymous cash, most CBDCs will be designed so central banks will have the power to trace spending to check money-laundering. However, transactions conducted with them may not be visible to payment apps. The fintech industry may lose access to some of the data that it is currently mining with artificial intelligence to make cheap loans available to those who do not possess collateral or business and tax registrations, such as mom-and-pop stores. There will also be gains, though they won’t be immediate. Once international corridors are in place for exchanging one CBDC into another, there won’t be any need for an expensive network of correspondent banks to settle cross-border payments. For Indians working abroad, sending money home will become simpler and cheaper, leading to substantial savings for the world’s No. 1 recipient of foreign remittances. However, some of those benefits are possible even without a digital rupee, via a global network of bankbased online payment systems. One such proposal is Bank for International Settlements’ Nexus project. A digital rupee may well be a boon. For one thing, it may not be a bad idea for the monetary authority to use technology to put bank managements on notice: They need to stop taking depositors for granted. Still, that lesson is probably best administered after lenders have put the pandemic-related stress on their balance sheets behind them. Besides, the RBI needs to do its homework. The technology, blockchain or otherwise, will need to balance the oftenconflicting goals of speed, scalability, auditability, security and privacy, something the Fed is attempting to do as part of its Project Hamilton initiative. Given India’s still-vast digital divide, a protocol for offline use has to be worked out. Rushing the implementation of what should ideally be a multiyear project may be fraught with unnecessary risks.
Source: Economic Times
Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni recently signed into law the ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA) between Cambodia and South Korea after it was cleared by the National Assembly and Senate. The agreement will boost exports, increase gross domestic product and jobs, and help boost recovery of the two economies affected by the COVID19 pandemic. The agreement will further boost Cambodia’s exports to South Korea like garments, textiles, footwear, bags, spare parts, electronics, rubber and agricultural products. The FTA would expand trade liberalisation in markets in addition to the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). The FTA was discussed and drafted by the two countries’ expert working group in 2021. It was officially signed via a video conference by the Cambodian minister of commerce Pan Sorasak and his South Korean counterpart YEO Han-Koo on October 26 last year.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
Fashion for Good is calling for industry stakeholders within the Indian textile suppliers and garment manufacturers to volunteer crucial information for an ambitious project to map the Indian textile waste landscape. The survey will collect data and resources vital to obtaining real-world estimates beneficial to mapping the landscape and successfully testing innovative technologies that are best placed to address the challenge of textile waste. If one would like to find out more and contribute to the survey, they can register their interest with Fashion for Good through this form. Fashion for Good launched the Sorting For Circularity India consortium project to understand the pre-consumer textile waste streams in India, and to trial sorting and mapping solutions. Together with industry players adidas, Levi Strauss & Co., PVH Corp., Arvind Limited, Birla Cellulose, Welspun India, and key technology partner Reverse Resources the project aims to build an infrastructure towards greater circularity in the years to come. Fashion for Good is a global platform for innovation, made possible through collaboration and community, convening brands, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organisations, innovators and funders to make all fashion good. At the core of Fashion for Good is their innovation platform. Based in the Amsterdam headquarters with a regional programme in South Asia, the global accelerator programmes gives promising start-up innovators the expertise and access to funding they need to grow. The platform also supports innovators through its scaling programme and foundational projects, driving pilots and supply chain implementation with partner organisations. The Good Fashion Fund catalyses access to finance to shift at scale to more sustainable production processes. As a convener for change, Fashion for Good houses the world’s first interactive museum dedicated to sustainable fashion and innovation, a Circular Apparel Community coworking space, and creates open-source resources and reports. Fashion for Good’s programmes are supported by founding partner Laudes Foundation, co-founder William McDonough and corporate partners Adidas, C&A, CHANEL, BESTSELLER, Kering, Levi Strauss & Co., Otto Group, PVH Corp., Stella McCartney, Target and Zalando, and affiliate and Asia partners Arvind, Birla Cellulose, HSBC, Norrona, Teijin Frontier, vivobarefoot, Welspun and W. L. Gore & Associates.
Source: The Print
China will put to trial part of the rules of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in some of its pilot free trade zones, according to the customs authority. It will also actively facilitate the construction of platforms for opening up and promote innovation of customs supervision mechanisms for those zones, to be replicated elsewhere later. In 2022, efforts will be made to implement a customs supervision framework for the Hainan Free Trade Port and support the construction of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, southern China's Guangdong Province, said Ni Yuefeng, head of the general administration of customs. Despite mounting uncertainty and protectionism globally, China has remained firm in opening up its super-sized domestic market and safeguarding true multilateralism with concrete efforts, Chinese state-controlled media reported.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
