The Puducherry government has set in motion the process of rehabilitation of the century old Anglo French Textiles (AFT) mill and two other textile mills. A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues, Chief Secretary Manoj Parida and senior government officials had discussed various options for rehabilitation of the mill and to put it back on track. Credit rating agency ICRA, which was commissioned by the government to conduct a rapid financial study of the techno-economic status of the Corporation three months ago and to look into its rehabilitation had submitted its proposal to the government. Chief Secretary Manoj Parida told The Hindu that ICRA had made a detailed presentation at the meeting and submitted four options for revival and rehabilitation of the mill. He said: “The government is seized of the matter and is keen to bring a solution. The meeting discussed the best options to utilise the AFT Mill, the Bharathi and Swadeshi mills. The proposal will be discussed in the Cabinet and a decision will be taken soon,” he said. The ICRA report includes options to mobilise funds for settlement of accumulated liabilities besides revival and restructuring of the units in AFT under public private partnership (PPP) mode. The century old AFT Mill had remained closed since 2015 following mounting losses, rapid erosion of networth of the company, and prevailing labour unrest because of non-payment of statutory dues to employees. The company had been facing financial crisis, short of cash even to meet its day-to-day operations. A top government official pointed out that while Madras High Court had allowed the sale of land to meet the mill’s commitment for payment of gratuity to the workers, the Union Home Ministry had been keeping quiet without giving its clearance. As against a total strength of 4,000 employees, the manpower had now been reduced to mere 700 workers. Sources said the cost of production in AFT had increased manifold and was now six times higher than the production in actual competing industries. Most machineries in the AFT Mill are outdated and the newest machine was 20 years old. Most buildings situated in ‘A’ unit had been declared unsafe by the Inspector of Factories for employees to work. Although the government decided to sell the timber and other material in the dilapidated buildings, the move was dropped following strong resistance from the workers. From 1985-86 to 1992-93, the Pondicherry Textile Corporation had earned marginal profits and had started incurring loss. The government had released ₹367.35 crore as share capital and ₹238.63 crore as grant-in-aid till March 31, 2016. The public sector undertaking which earned marginal profits from 1985-86 to 1992-93 started incurring heavy losses over the years.
Reduction in capital
This resulted in drastic reduction of grant-in-aid and share capital and the present assistance was used for payment of compensation for lay-off only and not adequate to run the mill. Blatant administrative transgressions committed by non-political chairmen and senior IAS officers who had held the reigns of the mill in the past had led to its present status, sources added. Around 55 acres of land in Pattanur in Villupuram district, quarter of an acre in Thengaithittu and 1.5 acres of land at Thirubhuvanai in Puducherry were all estimated at ₹73.38 crore. The total liability to be settled by the mill is ₹166 crore. But the move to dispose of over 55 acres belonging to the mill in Puducherry and neighbouring Tamil Nadu by way of public auction would only procure ₹80 crore which will be insufficient to settle all the dues, say sources.
Source: The Hindu
The GST Bills are far from perfect and several provisions could call for amendments over the coming two years or so, according to former finance minister P Chidambaram. A rush to roll out the new tax regime from July 1 could be detrimental and fitment of items holds the key to the success of the new tax regime, he said in an interview.
Q: You have called it an imperfect bill. What are the imperfections that you refer to?
A: Well, the key imperfections are one, the multiplicity of rates; two, the compliance provisions; three, lack of clarity in some provisions and I’ll give you couple of examples for lack of clarity. The first example is what happens if the turnover goes above Rs 1.5 crore in one year and then falls below Rs 1.5 crore the next year and then after 2-3 years, again goes above Rs 1.5 crore? Second example of lack of clarity is how is a compoundable offence also made a non-bailable offence. These are two examples for lack of clarity. Number four is the fitment. The whole thing will unravel if the fitments are done unwisely or with greed in your heart. If all the states get together and say that we must extract more tax and the entire fitment is skewed in favour of higher rate, then I think the whole thing will unravel. Then, section 171 deals allegedly with anti-profiteering, it’s actually a suspect provision from the constitutional point of view and I think it’s open to abuse.
Q: The logic of keeping key inputs such as electricity, petroleum outside GST. Would that count as an aberration?
A: It’s a very unsatisfactory compromise. They have kept out 40 per cent of the GDP. I can understand the states being zealous about taxing alcohol, but I can’t see why the central government could not persuade the states to include electricity, real estate and petroleum products.
Q: There’s an assurance of 14 per cent growth in revenue (for states). Would that put pressure on number of items being bracketed more in the 28 per cent category?
A: The states and the Centre have assumed that there will be a 14 per cent increase but how did they arrive at that. Why did they arrive at a 14 per cent increase is also not clear. In normal circumstances, we should be happy even if there’s a 12 per cent increase in revenue for whatever reason. Having apparently agreed that there must be a 14 per cent increase, if that is going to drive the fitment, the chances are that many items will be fitted into the higher rate… We’ll have to wait and see how they fit it.
Q: What’s the issue in having an anti-profiteering provision?
A: Firstly, the section is worded in a manner that if there is a reduction in the tax rate, there shall be a commensurate reduction in the price but tax is only a factor that determines price. There could be a reduction in the tax rate but simultaneously there could be an increase in the raw material cost, there could be a rise in electricity cost, there could be a rise in various other factors that go to make up a price. So, this is open to abuse because the tax official will simply issue notice like he has issued notices to 18 lakh assessees in income tax and say you are indulging in anti-profiteering. There is no definition of anti-profiteering, they are going to set up an authority, that authority will devise its own procedure. It’s clearly open to abuse. The second aspect is that if there’s profiteering, there are other regulators and institutions which deal with profiteering. There’s a consumer forum and there’s Competition Commission (of India). So why should power be given to a tax official to decide something that a market should decide. As far as the tax law is concerned, it’s only purpose is to levy a tax and collect a tax. Why should it go beyond that and ask questions which do not fall within the purview of the tax book. For example, you levy an income tax, do you ask a doctor, how many patients do you treat free? You levy income tax, do you ask a businessman, what part of his income is he setting aside for charity. That is not the purpose of the tax law, nor can it be within the province of the tax official.
Q: That’s a larger trend. Even in the Finance Bill they have given a certain amount of discretionary power to taxmen for certain actions…
A: This government is a ‘tax and spend’ government. It’s quite clear and therefore, they think that if they confer extraordinary powers upon the tax official, he/she will get more revenue. What they forget is, if you confer extraordinary powers upon a tax official, it is also more open to abuse.
Q: The GST Council has changed the definition of agriculturist and the Finance Minister has clarified that it’s only for registration purpose and not for taxation purpose.
A: Section (in law) doesn’t say so. In fact, there are problems. Firstly, if an agriculturist engages in non-farm activity, is he liable to register. There are ancillary activity on a farm or in an agriculturist holding, which are non-farm activities. Examples are selling eggs, selling milk which your goat and cow yield, is he bound to register if he sells egg or milk? The other aspect is, look at the definition of taxable turnover, taxable supplies. It includes exempt supplies. So, supplies, that is, goods and services, which are otherwise not taxable is included for determining taxable turnover. That is what it appears to be on the plain language of the section. So, I may cross the threshold of Rs 20 lakh but the bulk of my turnover could be coming from exempted supplies, yet I have to register. So, the attempt has been to cast the net very wide, and then if some people are to be left out, then to leave them out. Which is think is a very wrong approach. The approach should be to cast the net only on those who you intend to tax, not cast the net on those who you intend not to tax. All this is enlarging the discretion of the tax official and I am not in favour of enlarging the discretion of the tax official. Tax laws must become more and more precise, more and more well-defined, so that the area of discretion is extremely limited.
Q: Does CAG have powers to audit GSTN completely?
A: CAG’s powers come from the Constitution, the CAG Act. So, strictly speaking, it’s not necessary to mention in every tax law that the CAG will levy the accounts of the accounts of the state government and the central government. But, if the CAG has raised this question formally, I don’t know, with the government, it’s the duty of the government to formally clarify to the CAG that by virtue of its powers under the Constitution and the CAG Act, he will have a right to audit the entire GST, including the GSTN. It’s the duty of the government to clarify it.
Q: Despite being a non-government company, does CAG have complete auditing powers over GSTN?
A: It has under the Constitution. At the request of either the government or at the request of the CAG, it can apply to another body.
Q: Some states like J&K are asking for a September 1 rollout of GST.
A: I have serious doubts about this deadline of July 1. In fact, number one, I think it’s impractical and number two, it’s undesirable. The reasons why it appears impractical are known. The council itself is going to look at the rule towards the end of may. And the fitments will have to be made public and there will be some amount of protests against the fitment. Eventually, they will have to be brought back to Parliament. The rules and the rates have to be brought back to Parliament and Parliament has a right to amend them. But I think this exercise should not be rushed. This should take place after a full debate in public domain. So I think July 1 is impractical… and undesirable. We are moving towards a completely new regime, of which many people are not familiar. Yes, thanks to Cenvat, Modvat and now Vat, assessees who were under the central government for excise and assessees who were under the state government for sales tax are now familiar of the concept of an input tax credit. But it has never been applied on an all-India basis and the bulk of the assessees would be assessees of Vat who are simply not familiar when a law of this kind is applied universally to all goods and all services. Compliance provisions are extremely complicated. Filing procedures are entirely electronic. And I think people should be given enough time to adjust. The second aspect is that the GSTN has to be proved in a trial. The finance minister spoke of 30 billion invoices a day… If that number if right, it is a humongous number… Is the GSTN capable of processing all that without glitches? I think the GSTN should be allowed to run it on a trial basis for a month or two before you actually launch GST. I personally think October 1, the second half of the financial year, is the correct date.
Q. Would the constitutional amendment not lapse on September 16?
A: No, nothing will lapse… The Act will be notified. The tax will apply from October 1.
Q. Isn’t the July 1 deadline, if it were to happen, heavily loaded against the small and medium businesses?
A. The bigger guys can employ talent and skills to quickly get on to GST. Businesses in the tier-II and tier-III towns who only have a local accountant to handle their accounts and who are not yet completely familiar with electronic filing, I think puts a huge burden upon them. And they will make mistakes. My further worry is when they make mistakes, the tax official descends on them and starts issuing notices and there will be a huge backlash against the trading community and the business community. That leads to the other aspect — that this law must be applied with a benign hand. At least for 3-5 years. If it is applied with a harsh and heavy hand, again there will be a backlash. So my advice would be to push back the date to October 1, instruct your officers to apply it with a benign hand and show forbearance to small mistakes until people fully get used to the idea of a GST.
Q. The GSTN not going through a trial run, is there a chance that there could be potential inter-state disputes?
A: Yes, there will be… In fact, it is the inter-state disputes and the state-centre disputes that concern me. See, a dispute between tax collector and taxpayer will be resolved by the usual assessment, appeal, revision, tribunal proceeding. But disputes between the centre and state or state and state… there is no machinery yet. The constitutional amendment provides for a machinery, but that machinery is not yet set up. So if disputes arise very early after GST is introduced, where is the machinery to resolve it?
Q: Do you think that amendments would have to be moved to the GST bills?
A: I have no doubt in my mind that within the next two years, several provisions will call for amendments and will be amended.
Q: Does the BJP deserve credit for pushing GST through?
A: They deserve credit for running the last lap of the race, but this baton has been handed over from government to government. So the one to breast the tape by running the last lap is not the only one who has run the relay.
Q: The multiplicity of the rates, doesn’t that distort the original idea of GST bringing about a unified tax regime?
A: That’s precisely why I called it an imperfect bill. But it can be made less imperfect if you put 70 per cent of the goods and 70 per cent of the services in the rate of 18 per cent. And if you manage to push 90 per cent of the goods and 90 per cent of the services in the modal rate of 18 per cent, it becomes even less imperfect. So the fitment is the key.
Source: Financial Express
India has discontinued bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with most of its prominent trading partners, with termination notices given to as many as 58 countries, including EU states. All the BITs expired on April 1. According to sources, just a handful of countries — Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Switzerland, Oman, Qatar, Belarus, Thailand, Armenia, UAE and Zimbabwe — have agreed to renegotiate the treaties after the draft model BIT was approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2015. “Negotiations are still on with almost all countries on how to move forward with the new BITs,” an official said, adding that it is too early to write off the whole exercise. But, with most of these nations unwilling to renegotiate a new treaty based on the draft model, which they claim is against investors’ interest, the fate of flow of foreign investments into India hangs in balance. “The 58 countries wanted the pacts to be extended, but were not willing to follow the provisions in the Finance Ministry’s model draft in the new agreements,” another official told BusinessLine.
EU’s stricture. In fact, the EU has put in place a condition that it will continue negotiations on its free trade pact with India only when a BIT is signed. It had requested an extension of termination notice period pending the finalisation of the India-EU Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement. However, India has not agreed to extend it. India’s partner nations argue that with the existing BITs lapsing, investments into the country could dry up. The lack of a BIT adds to the risk premium and increases the cost of funds for investors. This would also result in European companies deciding to invest lesser in India, EC Vice-President Jyrki Katainen had said. But, India is not worried. “Investments made by foreign companies before the termination of the 58 treaties will be protected for some years under the ‘sunset’ clauses. Even if there is no BIT in place, the country’s laws will continue to protect all the investments. Foreign companies need not be worried about discrimination especially since the government has launched the ‘Make in India’ drive to attract investments,” the official said. Of the 83 BITs that India had entered into with various countries, 25 — with countries such as Mexico, China and Finland — have not completed their initial term and will start expiring only from July. India has circulated a proposed joint interpretative statement to the counterparties to these BITs, seeking to align the ongoing treaties with the 2015 Model BIT. “The problem is that none of these countries, except one or two, are interested in negotiating new treaties based on the 2015 Model BIT. There is a universal feeling that it would put their investors at a disadvantage,” the official said. Amid the concerns in the 2015 Model BIT are the provisions related to Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and Most Favoured Nation (MFN). Under ISDS, countries can only seek the option of international arbitration when all domestic legal routes have been exhausted. The provision was introduced after MNCs such as Vodafone and Cairn sought international arbitration to settle tiffs here. Countries such as the US and Canada, too, have problems with these provisions and are unwilling to go ahead with a pact on these terms.
US ties
Pointing out that India and the US have not signed a BIT but the latter is still the largest foreign investor in the country, analysts said that such a pact adds to the comfort of foreign investors. “BITs are helpful in reassuring foreign investors. But there may not be any immediate impact on investments due to termination of the old pacts as investors have built comfort in the Indian system over the years,” said Abhishek Goenka, Partner, PwC.
Source: Business Line
The Customs Tariff Act is to be amended to enable the levy of GST compensation cess and Integrated GST on imported goods, including valuation thereof. The aim is a level playing field for domestic business vis-à-vis imported goods. Consequent to the proposed repeal of the Central Excise Tariff Act of 1985, vide the Central GST Bill, a new Schedule, the Fourth, is proposed to be inserted in the Central Excise Act. It will provide for classification and duty rates for specified excisable goods -- petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, aviation turbine fuel and natural gas, tobacco and tobacco products. These are presently covered under Chapters 24 and 27 of the Central Excise Tariff Act. And, will continue to attract central excise duty even after the GST commencement. Some consequential amendments are proposed in the Central Excise Act. These relate to certain definitions, changes in sections, provisions of deemed manufacture and insertion of emergency powers to increase the rate of duty, on the same lines as provided in the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. After GST introduction, the cesses or surcharges levied or collected as duties under central excise on excisable goods or as service tax on taxable services would become irrelevant. For, the supplies of such goods (except petroleum products, tobacco, etc) and services would be chargeable to GST. So, the Bill proposes to abolish such cesses or surcharge; also, the cess levied on water consumed by certain industries and by local authorities. The trade now has a better idea on how the introduction of GST would affect some of the other laws. The government should take forward this initiative and propose amendments to other legislation, such as those applicable to Special Economic Zones. The government should also inform exporters on whether the various promotion schemes for them would be impacted under GST. Top finance ministry officials have talked of the need to allow seamless flow of credit under the GST regime. And, hence, the need to not allow any upfront exemptions. Whether this reasoning will find expression in export promotion schemes must be urgently made clear. That will help exporters prepare for the GST regime.
Source : Business Standard
Agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth $9 billion of investments into Bangladesh will be signed between the Indian public and private sectors and the Bangladeshi side on Monday. The 12 agreements will include an MoU of $2 billion in investments in the Bangladeshi power sector by Adani Power, a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
Agreements on the anvil
2 MoUs worth $9 billion in investments in Bangladesh to be signed on Monday
These include one MOU of $2 billion for investments in the Bangladesh power sector by Adani Power Agreements by Reliance Power and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Agreement between Container Corporation of India and Container Corporation of Bangladesh India committed a $4.5-billion line of credit for implementation of infrastructure projects in Bangladesh. Agreements will be signed for investments in Bangladesh by Reliance Power and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam. An agreement will also be inked between the Container Corporation of India and the Container Corporation of Bangladesh. The agreements will be signed in the presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently on a four-day visit to India, at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event here on Monday. On Saturday, India committed to a $4.5-billion line of credit for implementation of infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, and another $500 million for Dhaka’s defence procurements. In all, the two sides signed 22 agreements across an array of sectors. By the end of the Bangladeshi PM’s visit, as many as 34 agreements would have been signed. This is the third line of credit to Bangladesh in the past six years, and the largest. For this line of credit, Delhi and Dhaka have identified 17 infrastructure projects. These comprise upgradation of three ports, one airport, new power transmission lines and railway lines. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said on Saturday the message was that “India has a very positive and effective infrastructure development assistance programme”. He said there was a lot of emphasis from the ministry of external affairs for faster delivery on projects. In October 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping had visited Dhaka and promised Chinese investments worth $20 billion. Nearly all of India’s neighbours complain of Delhi being laggardly, as compared to the Chinese, in executing its infrastructure projects. Some of the bigger investments by Indian companies will be in the power and energy sectors. India supplies 600 Mw of power to Bangladesh through two existing interconnections at Bheramara-Baharampur and Tripura-South Comilla. Another 500 Mw will be provided by India through the Bheramara-Baharampur interconnection. The two sides have agreed to set up additional interconnection between Bornagar in Assam and Parbatipur in Bangladesh, and also Katihar in Bihar, for power evacuation facilities from which Bangladesh can draw 1,000 Mw of power. The two sides are also discussing supply of 340 Mw from various NTPC stations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday he hoped more Indian private sector investments in Bangladesh’s power sector would follow, including possibilities of joint ventures. On Sunday, Hasina visited Ajmer Sharif to pay her respects at the shrine of Khwaja Moinudding Chishti, a 12th century Sufi saint. She concludes her visit on Monday evening. Her party, the Awami League, said on Sunday they planned a felicitation for her successful visit to India. Also, however, in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s opposition leader Khaleda Zia accused Hasina of “selling out” the country to India, to translate into reality a “dream of staying in power for life”. Zia, 71, and Hasina, 69, are known as the ‘Battling Begums’ for a bitter rivalry for over three decades.
Source: Business Standard
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to India is expected to provide a crucial leg-up to discussions on a free trade agreement between the two nations. While a final agreement may not be on the cards during the four-day visit beginning Sunday, discussions on tariff reduction and market access in services are expected to move forward. The issues had proved to be major sticking points in the proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, talks on which had begun in 2011.
Nine rounds of negotiations have been completed to liberalise the trade and services regime, besides removing non-tariff barriers and encouraging investments. The latest round of negotiations took place in New Delhi last September. Two-way trade exceeded $12 billion in 2015-16, a significant fall from the more than $18-billion worth of trade five years ago. India was also Australia’s 10th largest trading partner and fifth largest export market in FY16. But, compared to this, neighbouring China has become Australia’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $116 billion in 2016. This is the result of the ChinaAustralia Free Trade Agreement signed in 2015, which brought down tariffs for Australian beef, wine, fruits and other products entering the Chinese market. “Australia is pushing for tariff reduction in dairy, fresh fruit, pharmaceuticals, meat and wines. On the other hand, India wants zero duty on auto parts, textiles and fresh fruit, including mangoes, and greater access in the services sector,” a senior government official said. The countries had missed the last deadline to finish talks — January 2016 — set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australia’s then PM, Tony Abbott, in September 2014. India had pushed talks on the backburner, keeping an eye on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, of which Australia is a part. But, with RCEP, too, moving slowly, India is keen on finishing the talks. The RCEP agreement involves 10 countries of the ASEAN grouping and six of its free trade partners — China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Australia. Under RCEP, India had earlier offered tariff elimination of 42.5 per cent of all traded goods to Australia, while that country has offered zero tariff on 80 per cent of such goods. For India, the RCEP presents a decisive platform to influence its strategic and economic status in the Asia-Pacific region. Expected to be the largest regional trading bloc in the world, accounting for nearly 45 per cent of the global population with a combined gross domestic product of $21.3 trillion, it will also bring the biggest economies of the region into a regional trading arrangement. During the Australian PM’s visit, both countries are likely to sign a number of memoranda of understanding (MoUs), covering a range of areas including defence and security, environment, renewable energy and sports.
Source: Business Standard
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 54.19 per barrel (bbl) on 07.04.2017. This was higher than the price of US$ 53.05 per bbl on previous publishing day of 06.04.2017. In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket increased to Rs.3489.51 per bbl on 07.04.2017 as compared to Rs. 3447.21 per bbl on 06.04.2017. Rupee closed stronger at Rs. 64.39 per US$ on 07.04.2017 as compared to Rs. 64.98 per US$ on 06.04.2017. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on April 07, 2017 (Previous trading day i.e. 06.04.2017) |
Pricing Fortnight for 01.04.2017 (March 13, 2017 to March 29, 2017) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
54.19 (53.05) |
50.06 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
3489.51 (3447.21) |
3275.43 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
64.39 (64.98) |
65.43 |
Source : PIB
Honouring the real women Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO) walked the ramp in designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee's creations. A small fashion show was a part of the award ceremony where women achievers from different fields were chosen to be felicitated. Among those who received an award during the ceremony in Delhi were entrepreneur Sussanne Khan, fashion designer and politician Shaina NC and Paralympics winner Deepa Malik. Textiles minister The best of Indian textiles Smriti Irani was the special guest for the evening. "The Indian handmade textile industry, which employs more than 43 lakh weavers, is 78 per cent women. We need to show further support to the weaver community, the community that represents our country's rich heritage," said Irani. Sabyasachi said that the show was yet another attempt to celebrate the textile heritage and craft from India. "This show was all about our rich history in textile and it also showcased the best of Indian embroidery," said Sabyasachi, who put up a show in Delhi after a long time. "I might plan and do some show in the winter this year. I have moved away from the show circuit for a bit as there is too much noise in fashion right now and it is nice to separate yourself and do something which is your own point of view," he said. Sabyasachi recently attended the inaugural reception of The UK-India Year of Culture. About meeting the queen, the designer said, "It was very overwhelming to get into It was overwhelming to be at BuckinghamPalace: Sabyasachi Buckingham Palace and when you meet the queen, you realise that she has a terrific sense of humour. I was with Anoushka Shankar and her mother and the queen remembered that Ravi Shankar performed at the palace, she gave us extra time, so it was great."
Source: The Times of India
Key advances in the last five years have led to early commercial products, with the e-textiles market having grown at double digit rate to reach around US$ 100 million in annual wholesale revenue today. With global giants from both apparel and electronics assessing the sector and building their strategies, analysts predict further growth over the coming decade. According to the E-Textiles 2017-2027: Technologies, Markets, Players report, published by Research and Markets, the significant investments currently being made will eventually enable mainstream commercial products, leading to a market approaching US$ 5 billion by 2027.
E-textiles
We are in contact with textiles for up to 90% of our lives, and they are starting to become intelligent. The basis of this new functionality is the integration of textiles and electronics. From clothing to bandages, bed linen to industrial fabrics, new products integrating e-textiles are being created. The market has been slow to start due to many challenges, but with large companies investing heavily and releasing early products, this industry is poised to change very quickly as soon as the right conditions are achieved. In their purest form according to the definition, e-textiles based on the integration of inherently electrically or electronically active fibres have begun to see integration into early products. However, with many associated challenges around reliability, performance and comfort, there has been a strong push towards other solutions that can achieve better properties including washability, stretchability and new functionalities. The result is a complex ecosystem of different material, component and connection options that are now available for product designers.
Roadmap for the future
The report covers the entire e-textiles value chain, covering the wide range of materials (including metals, polymers, fibres, yarns, textiles (knitted, woven, embroidered, non-woven) and emerging materials) and components (sensors, connectors and the interface to traditional electronics, etc.) used today. It also presents a roadmap for the future, detailing over 30 different academic and early prototype products in areas such as new conductive fibres, stretchable electronics, energy harvesting, energy storage, logic and memory. The report describes the full value chain, looking from the material and component options, to the manufacturing challenges, through to the applications, markets and key end users. Trends by market sector are crucial, as the addressable markets are both large and diverse. The report characterises key market sectors including Sports & Fitness, Medical & Healthcare, Wellness, Home & Lifestyle, Industrial, commercial, military, Fashion, and Others (including automotive).
Extensive research
The forecasts for each sector are accompanied by detailed qualitative discussion for each sector. The forecast description cites examples of over 110 separate e-textiles projects grouped by company, with additional projects referenced throughout the report.
This information has been compiled via extensive primary research, with the report also containing summaries from key industry events, presentations and an additional 28 separate interview-based company profiles detailing key players.
Source: Innovation in Textiles.
IFC, part of the World Bank Group, has signed a €15.5 million investment deal with Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon. The investment is part of a €31 million one-year pre-export facility being set up by the Standard Chartered Bank for Société de Développement du Coton (Sodecoton), a state-owned enterprise, which purchases 100 per cent of the country's cotton. The facility will be used to finance the cotton campaign, mainly for the purchase of seed cotton from smallholder farmers, the ginning of seed cotton by Sodecoton and the transportation of lint cotton to the port of Douala for exports to international markets. Sodecoton purchases 100 per cent of the country's seed cotton production. Cotton is the most important agriculture crop in Northern Cameroon. Mehita Sylla, IFC country manager for central African sub-region, said "It is crucial for IFC to support the cotton sector in Cameroon. As you know, Cotton is the largest source of employment in Northern Cameroon, providing livelihood to approximately three million people". Chuks Ugha, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon, said, "This is an excellent example of collaboration between Standard Chartered Bank and IFC/World Bank to support Sodecoton. The company has been in operation for more than 40 years. It is a strategic company for the Government of Cameroon." IFC will also explore the provision of advisory services to farmers in collaboration with Sodecoton to strengthen the cotton value chain. This will likely include financial management, good agricultural practices and soil management.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Garment shipments to Canada, one of the major export destinations for Bangladeshi manufacturers, dropped 7 percent to $437.78 million in the first half of this fiscal year on the back of lower demand. “The decline is due to global slump in demand for apparel,” said Faruque Hassan, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Expor-ters Association. In 2015, the demand for apparel items slid 7.8 percent globally and the decline continued in 2016 at the same rate, he said. As a result, Bangladesh's garment exports to some other major countries declined as well. In recent years, Bangladesh's competitors like India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka have managed to increase their shipments to Canada, which might be another reason for the decline, Hassan said. Masud Rahman, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh, begs to differ. “The figure for the July-December period is just a temporary blip.” He is optimistic that shipments to Canada, where Bangladesh enjoys zero-duty benefit, will pick up soon. Bilateral trade between the two countries crossed the $2 billion mark a few years ago, which is a significant achievement, he said. Garment exports now make up 95 percent of Bangladesh's exports to Canada. To make the most of the zero-duty benefit it enjoys, Bangladesh should diversify its export basket, incorporating products like leather and leather goods, plastic goods and pharmaceuticals, Rahman added. Rahman's optimism is not unfounded as Canadian apparel retailers have invited many Bangladeshi garment factories to attend the Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada, the biggest garment exhibition in the North American country. The gathering, which is scheduled to take place from August 21 to 23, will be attended by apparel and textile manufacturers from more than 20 countries. Manufacturers China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the US, UK, Canada, Turkey, Jordan, Switzerland, Vietnam, Nepal and more will share with Canadians their latest products and production processes in an effort to forge new business relationships.
Source: The Daily Star
African countries could be a highly suitable and cost-effective alternative source of raw cotton for Bangladesh's textile sector, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Sunday. "The demand for cotton in the local textile sector is here to stay as RMG will lead our export sector for another twenty to twenty five years," he told the African-Asian Cotton B2B Meeting held in the capital. "In this context, our textile sector can look towards Africa as an alternative source of raw cotton due to its cost effectiveness," he added, amid a growing consensus among the stakeholders about the country's overdependence on Indian cotton. Bangladesh is currently the largest cotton importing country in the world. It spends more than US$ 3 billion to import cotton a year -- more than half of it comes from India. Statistics showed that while China's cotton import from India was falling, Bangladesh's cotton import from India was actually rising. If the current trend continues, insiders said, Bangladesh might well become the largest importer of Indian cotton. The finance minister was also not quite optimistic about the prospect of local cotton as a large source of raw material for the local textile industry. "Local cotton farmers are unlikely to be able to meet the bulk of the huge demand for cotton due to land shortage," he said. "At the same time, the rising demand for chemical and other fibre materials as a substitute for cotton is also not helping the local cotton industry." Currently, Bangladesh grows around 180,000 bales of cotton a year, which is just 1.0 per cent of the annual demand. However, the local producers have a target to meet 10 per cent of the demand by the end of 2025. Speaking on the occasion, the local cotton traders sought better policy incentives for importing cotton given its importance in feeding the country's export-oriented RMG sector. President of Bangladesh Cotton Association M Shahidullah said that African countries were increasingly becoming an important source of cotton for Bangladesh's garments industry. "Nevertheless, there are ample scope for diversifying our sources and explore Africa further as a bigger source of cotton, considering the issues of cost effectiveness."
Source: The Financial Express Bangladesh
Delta Galil owner Isaac Dabah tells "Globes" about his plans to maintain the Israeli company's growth "My salary?" It's very Israeli for people to ask about things like that. They should better be concerned about the performance of the business, not how much the CEO takes home," bridles Delta Galil Industries Ltd. (OTC: DELTY; TASE: DELT) CEO and controlling shareholder (49% stake) Isaac Dabah in an exclusive "Globes" interview. "I'm trying to be very reasonable about my bonus. I don't want anyone to think, God forbid, that I'm exploiting the company because I'm also the owner. Israelis think, 'If he's both, pay him less as CEO. That's not right, either.""Globes": Does it anger you that this subject always comes up again? Dabah: "It doesn't anger me, but in comparison with other CEOs like me around the world, I'm in the lowest paid quarter. What's most important is that my pay is based on growth; if it doesn't happen, I don't get my bonus." The seasonal argument with investment institutions about salary at Delta Galil right now concerns other company executives, so it will not be discussed here. Dabah's remuneration was approved three months ago: $750,000 in base salary and a $750,000-930,000 bonus, depending on the company's performance. About one thing, however, there is no dispute: where performance is concerned, Dabah's term at Delta Galil, since he became a partner, and later acquired control of the company in the middle of the past decade, has multiplied the company's value several times over, and its market cap now stands at NIS 2.5 billion. You once said that you wanted to be one of the world's 10 largest companies in your field. How far have you gotten on the way to that? "In the textile industry, I think we're in 15-20th place in the world. In intimate wear, we're the fourth largest. We have many growth engines, and the main focus is on organic growth. We mainly aim for growth with our main customers, and we're also concentrating on growth in Asia, especially China." Haven't you missed out on China? "We got to China late, because we were busy with other things, but now we're devoting special attention to it. We have people working with us in China, and we're about to sign a franchise agreement soon with a Chinese company to sell our products in China." Already when founder Dov Lautman was running the company, Delta Galil began moving production from Israel to other countries. You now produce little here – only experimental versions in order to consider the possibility of producing somewhere else on a large scale. Is this something that will change? "We won't grow in Israel with textiles. It's not competitive. We won't manufacture in Israel and lose money. There are 1,700-1,800 employees in Israel, only 350 of whom are production workers. The rest work in Delta networks in development and things like that. I wish we could produce more here, but the question is how we can survive as a company, with all the costs there are here in Israel. It's more expensive to manufacture in Israel than in the US, for example, because electricity is more expensive, municipal property taxes are higher, and there are many taxes." Threads that absorb shocks Despite its nostalgic past as a company of underwear and socks, today Delta produces for customers such as Nike, Victoria's Secret, Calvin Klein, Under Armour, and others, and holds franchises to produce for Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Columbia, and others. At the company headquarters, which recently moved to Caesarea, they are delighted to explain with enthusiasm about cotton they have given the characteristics of polyester, so that men can be both cool and comfortable; about technology that extends the life of laundered fabrics; about special threads integrated in the Nike socks of top athletes (and ordinary amateur athletes) in order to absorb shocks in jumping, prevent slipping when kicking the ball, and also about how to charge $15 for a pair of socks. They also show me shapewear that is soft, breathes, and pleasant, and contributes to a more flattering silhouette; elastic-less underwear that blurs the marks left on the hips; and activewear with laser cuts at the knees that facilitate movement. All this is aimed at highlighting one clear message: Delta's textiles have not been low-tech for a long time. On the contrary – the technology is advanced, and the company invests 4% of its turnover in research and development. A mirror image of the cheap mass textiles from the Far East In comparison with the textile industry for upper body clothes, the success of which is dictated by popular fashions, Delta Galil's products are trend-proof; sales are stable and less subject to cycles. Last year, however, Delta Galil strayed from its safe territory, and on a large scale. Last summer, the company announced the biggest deal in its history: the acquisition of the production activity of premium jeans brands. For $120 million in cash, Delta Galil acquired the activity of the 7 For All Mankind brands of jeans, and other clothing brands, such as Splendid, from US clothing and footwear company VF. Jeans is where Dabah made his name. In 1988, he acquired a US jeans maker on the verge of bankruptcy, Gloria Vanderbilt, and sold it 10 years later for $100 million. For Delta, however, this is a completely new playing field that is more sensitive to trends and fashion. This was a big deal in a new area for the company. Didn't you take a risk here? "It's an excellent deal. Obviously, we'll celebrate only after we start raking in profits. I think we've made good buys up until now, and here there are international brands that will help Delta Galil flourish. Saban is in over 50 countries, it will give us a big lever for growth in the coming years, and we paid a very reasonable price. Where risk is concerned, we're very conservative. In the four years preceding the Saban acquisition, we bought nothing, because the market was very hot, and the prices were very high." But up until now, you were not exposed to what is called the unpredictable dictates of fashion. "It's true that most of our products are not cyclical and trendy, but first of all, in order to grow, we needed an acquisition, and we found no suitable large company in the underwear sector. "So we went into a different category, which I understand well, and it's also a category that is not so cyclical. There have been levis for 200 years. Demand can change by 5-10% in either irection, and I expected this acquisition to increase both our profit margin and our sales - we're already leveraging it. We decided to put our brands into stores: In Splendid, we're already inserted yoga clothes, and we'll soon put underwear into Saban." What was also attractive to Delta Galil was Saban's Internet presence in the form of virtual stores. "Ecommerce is one of the channels in which we really wanted to expand," says Delta Galil senior vice president, deputy CEO, and head of global operations Yossi Hajaj, "and this is a good way of doing it." Hitting it off with Dov Lautman Dabah, 59, was born in Israel, but moved with his family to the US when he was 10. "I was a little angry at my parents for leaving Israel," he admits, "but I understand why they did it." He began his career by working in his father's import-export business, together with his brothers. He then decided to leave, and bought Gloria Vanderbilt, which he turned from a money-losing company into a success. He managed the company for two and a half years more after selling it. "In 2004, I was getting twice the salary I'm getting now. I was getting paid $2.2 million," he says, returning to the first subject we talked about. He used the money from the sale of Gloria Vanderbilt to found an investment company, and at age 28, began investing in Israel. His first investment, in 1999, was in Polgat Jeans from Kiryat Gat, which he also rescued from bankruptcy and turned into a profitable company. Afterwards, however, despite heavy investment in technology, the plant fell on hard times, lost money, and closed down in 2007. "We tried the best we could to maintain Polgat, but because trade agreements were signed and quotas for imports to Israel were eliminated, at some point, we had no choice," he says. "It was sad. We gave the workers almost a year's salary. To this day, I exchanged holiday greetings with some of the employees." Another of Dabah's investments was in the real estate company of Herzl Habas. He made two investments in the company of NIS 30-40 million, and sold his holdings to Idan Ofer in December 2007 for NIS 67 million. The company later collapsed, and the other investors suffered heavy losses. You are one of the few people that unloaded an investment in Habas in time Dabah: "It's not because I'm so smart. I thought that the market was contracting a little, that was the right time to sell, and someone wanted to buy it." How did you come to invest in Delta Galil? "I was always very proud of what Delta Galil was doing - an Israeli company with a lot of innovation. I phoned my lawyer and asked him to organize a meeting for me with Dov Lautman. I met him in a Tel Aviv office, and as they say, we hit it off immediately. A lot of the things he believed in I also believe in. At that meeting - after all, I'm an Israeli, and I have the audacity to prove it - I asked him if he was selling, and said, 'Right now, I'm not selling.' "One day, he called me and said, 'My partners, Sara Lee, want to sell (Sara Lee owned one quarter of Delta Galil), and if you want to buy, I'll let them know that I'm not exercising my first refusal rights. ' I started negotiating with Sara Lee in order to buy, and the truth is that my due diligence wasn't so good. I think I paid $6.50 a share. "Then I started as a director in Delta Galil, where Dov was the chairman, and it was hard to believe what was happening in the company, because Dov was such a dictator. He did whatever he wanted to in the company, and I don't mean this in a bad way." And the disease? "Even before I bought Sara Lee's shares, Dov told me that he was ill, when he had told almost no one else. In order to be fair with me, however, he told me. At that time, I didn't know much about the disease (Lautman had ALS – Lou Gehrig's disease, which is incurable). I did a Google search, and when I read about it, I was reduced almost to tears. But Dov managed to live with it for 10-12 years. When his disease interfered with his job, he asked me if I wanted to buy his controlling interest in the company. We negotiated, and I bought." Dabah bought Sara Lee and Lautman's shares for a total of $50 million. That gave him a 39% stake in Delta Galil, and his subsequent purchases brought his stake to 49%. Then you started managing it. Why? "The truth is that I mainly wanted to protect my investment. At that time, in 2006-2007, the company was in difficult situation, and lost money. I thought, however, that in the long term, it was an opportunity. I didn't intend to be the CEO, too, but on the day I acquired control, the CEO, Aviram Lahav, told me that he wanted to resign in a year. "I'm very glad that Dov lived long enough to see this success, because it made him very happy. I remember once that I went to him and told him, 'I want to give leadership of the board of directors to Noam (Lautman, Dov Lautman's son, S.L.).' He was so moved, he had tears in his eyes." Did you take Noam in order to keep a connection with the Lautman family? "Noam was the person who had been with the company for the longest time. He knew the company and all its managers. I myself visit Israel only every six weeks, and I thought it would be best for there to be someone there representing continuity and who knew and worked in the business." Dov Lautman founded Delta Galil in 1975. The company has 10,000 workers, markets in over 20 countries, and its production network spans the globe, from the Middle East to Eastern Europe. Among other places, it manufactures in Turkey, Bulgaria, China, and Bangladesh, and will soon open a new factory in Vietnam. How does Delta Galil keep fair employment terms in all these places, where it works through local suppliers and managers? "This is the hardest thing to do, and we're working on it constantly. We don't have many suppliers, and we've been working with our suppliers for many years. They're pretty big, and none of them fails to observe the high level of compliance with the rules of fair employment. It's very important for us, and very important to our clients (the major fashion companies)." In Egypt, you had a different kind of problem involving the political situation that was so acute that you were forced to stop producing there several years ago. "It's completely different now. Everything there is very peaceful. The new administration is very stable. They maintain a business-friendly atmosphere. There are tax concessions, and the depreciation of the Egyptian lira also helps us. We're growing there." What about acquiring other companies? "In the coming five years, we'll make another acquisition or two - I don't know how big." What will we see you buy? Less conservative acquisitions outside your usual field, like 7 For All Mankind? "No, we'll be conservative. We have a clear strategy for what we acquire. The first priority is companies in intimate wear, and we'll stay with jeans and activewear. I don't think we'll expand to other categories."
Something personal to finish with: Gloria, your eldest daughter, has been working with you for a long time. "Yes, up until several months ago, she managed the children's department in Delta stores, and now I wanted here to learn something else and advance, so we gave her a small department, also of children's clothes, that sells all over the world." Are you grooming her as your heir? "There's no inheritance in business. You always need the best person. But she's very useful to the company." And something else personal: Is she named Gloria after Gloria Vanderbilt - your first business success? "No," he laughs. "My wife's mother was named Gloria. We're Sephardic, and it's allowed and customary among us to give children their parents' name when they're still alive. We usually give the first daughter the name of the father's mother, but my mother and my wife are both named Ivette." Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 9, 2017
Source: Globes
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of South Africa, to help boost the clothing and textile sector through the Production Incentives Programme (PIP) within the Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme (CTCP), has approved R4.9 billion in incentives, with more thanR3.1 billion disbursed in the last financial year to create and save jobs in the sector, said Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies. Throughout the sector, a number of companies that qualified and drew from both programmes were able to save 81 252 jobs, while an additional 9 672 jobs were created. Addressing delegates at the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry-hosted Clothing Manufacturing Industry Sector summit, in Durban, this week, he noted that this was an indication that the clothing sector was a significant labour-absorbing sector and that government needed to create more opportunities to keep it sustainable.
The issue of rebates in the clothing and textile sector is still a burning issue within the industry and part of the government’s plan is still to tighten control of imports and the raising of tariffs to the maximum boundary, like they did in the beginning when they were revamping the whole industry. The whole value chain must still be involved in the sector going forward, he explained to delegates at what is the first of such summits for the industry. He further stressed that localisation is a must for every sector of the economy. Whatever is needed to be done to protect the industry, it must be done, but it should be in the interest of industry development and to improve the local supplier base. They want to see consequences for those who do not want to implement localisation and empowerment.
Source: YNF
A file photo shows workers busy at a readymade garment factory in Dhaka. RMG export to China witnessed more than 27 per cent increase while that to India suffered nearly 8 per cent decrease in the July-March period of the current financial year 2016-17. Readymade garment export to China witnessed more than 27 per cent increase while that to India suffered nearly 8 per cent decrease in the July-March period of the current financial year 2016-17. Exporters and experts said in view of potentiality, China would be the big market for Bangladesh in future while various technical barriers imposed by the Indian authorities were holding back Bangladesh’s exports to the market. Country’s exports to China in the nine months of FY17 fetched $736.92 million, which is 32.06 per cent higher than the earnings of $558.01 million in the same period of FY16, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data. RMG export to China in the July-March period of FY17 grew by 27.11 per cent to $285.07 million from $224.26 million in the same period of FY16. Data showed that leather and leather products export to China increased by 27.19 per cent to $214.23 million from $ 168.43 million. Export earnings from India in the July-March period of FY17 grew by 7.28 per cent to $522.83 million but earnings from export of two major items — RMG and jute and jute goods — decreased in the period. According to the EPB Data, RMG export to India in the nine months of FY17 fell by 7.85 per cent to $96.99 million from $105.25 million in the same period of FY16. Jute and jute goods export to India in the nine months decreased by 17.08 per cent to $142.14 million from $171.41 million in the same period of the last financial year, data showed. ‘Economy in both China and India is growing but Bangladesh’s export to India experienced negative growth due its [Indian] domestic production and various nontariff barriers,’ Khondoker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, told New Age on Saturday.He said that China was shifting its domestic production of basic products to high-end and high-tech items and meeting domestic demand for basic products through imports. Moazzem said that the RMG import by China would increase in the coming days and it was a promising market for Bangladesh. He said that to gain the market share in China Bangladesh would have to remain competitive as competing countries were also grabbing share of the market. According to Moazzem, Bangladesh export to India was not smooth as exporters face various technical barriers regarding testing facility of products at border, complexities in registration requirement, product specification and border specification. He said that not for RMG, India might be the important export destination for non-traditional products and Bangladesh should concentrate on the products.Shahidullah Azim, former vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that complex procedure in payment, poor infrastructure in land ports and devaluation of the Indian currency rupee were the main reasons for not increasing export to India. He said that both RMG exporters and banks in Bangladesh were unwilling to make any business deal with Indian businesses as some Bangladeshi companies were previously deceived by Indian companies. Azim said that initiative from the governments of Bangladesh and India was needed to take the advantage of duty-free market access announced the Indian authorities for Bangladesh.
Source: New Age BD.
The government has been urged to formulate a new cotton policy to avoid losses suffered due to crop failure over the last two consecutive years. Analysts say the key crop failure should be taken seriously also because it did not occur in any of the cotton-growing countries except Pakistan. The cotton crop failure has far-reaching impact in the country where 60 per cent population lives in rural areas. A short crop resulted in job losses to rural workforce, particularly women cotton pickers. Pakistan’s cotton production stood at 15 million bales in the 2013-14, which dropped to around 10m bales during the last two seasons. It translated into a shortfall of 10m bales in the last two years which, according to experts, cost the country around Rs500 billion. Moreover, the country also had to foot a huge import bill to meet the demand Dr. Jassu Mal T. Leemani, chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association (PCGA), told Dawn the biggest problem facing the cotton crop was the absence of support price for cotton. “The government was giving support price and subsidy to other crops such as sugar cane and wheat, but not cotton. It encouraged growers to shift to those crops which ensure fixed and secured income”, he said. The sugar cane support price fixed by the government is Rs182 a maund (around 37 kilograms); besides, the government gives subsidy on the export of sugar. Mr Leemani, who is also the country’s biggest cotton exporter, said that around 30pc cotton area in Punjab has gone under sugar cane or maize cultivation. At the time of independence, around six million acres of land used to come under cotton cultivation, which has now shrunk to 4.5m acres. In Sindh, the area under cotton cultivation remains unchanged at 1.5m acres. He also admitted that poor ginning was also causing huge loss to the country as the 1952 technology of saw-gin was damaging cotton quality and the length of its fibre. The new cotton policy should also come up with incentives for ginners so that they could be encouraged to shift to modern ginning technology. The electricity to the ginning industry should also be given on minimum rates as was being offered to the textile industry, he added. Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum chairman Naseem Usman Osawala also warned that any delay in giving incentives and support price or subsidy to the next cotton crop would be detrimental.
Source: Dawn.
The Nigeria Union of Textile Garment Workers (NUTGW) has appealed to the Kaduna State government to urgently put measures in place to ensuring the reopening of closed textile industries and payment of workers gratuity. The Deputy Secretary General of the Union, Comrade Dele Ojo, while speaking in Kaduna over the weekend said the government should take whatever steps necessary to reopen the closed factories in the interest of the people. He said, “People are suffering, those displaced when the factories were closed are still in trouble. Even though we do not have the statistics as to how many have lost their lives, we know the situation is such that everybody is concerned about the welfare of the people that were displaced as a result of the closure.” He said that the union was always in touch with the workers of the closed textile factories with a view of finding solutions to their plight. He said, “The union has been doing a lot in terms of advocacy to draw government’s attention to the plight of the industry and our campaign has made it possible for UNTPL to be reopened because of the provisions of the Bank of Industry (BOI) with a current work force of about 1,500.’’ On Kaduna Textiles Limited (KTL), he said: “We were told recently that the management has been able to woo some investors from Turkey who were interested in making military uniforms, we were told that they have gotten to the stage where investors have shown interest and that they only needed the cooperation of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior to give them the go ahead so that they can float a garment factory there. “These are very reassuring information which we believe will help us get those factories to reopen, and if that happens, some of the workers will be re-engaged and the issue of payment of their entitlement may also come to bear.” On FINETEX, NOTEX, he said, “I think there was this erroneous belief that their gratuity has not been paid, but because of all the efforts, we were able to convince the chairman of the company, Alhaji Dantata, who made available, about N250million for the gratuity of the workers and this has been paid to the workers. It is not fair for anyone to claim that NOTEX and FINETX gratuity has not been paid because it has been addressed.” On Arewa Textile, he said, “The major problem they have is with Union Bank, we were told that the bank has recovered so much from Arewa Textiles in terms of the debt owed them and we were thinking that the bank will be sympathetic to the workers in carrying out the burden of gratuity for the workers.”
Source: Daily Trust
