Sources claimed the Minister, upon arrival, would head to Tirupur to inspect Netaji Apparel Park and Palladam Weaving Park.
Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani will review the functioning of textile clusters in the region during her two-day visit, beginning tomorrow.
The Minister, after arrival tomorrow morning, would head to Tirupur to inspect Netaji Apparel Park and Palladam Weaving Park, BJP sources said.
She would visit textile units in Bhavani and Erode in the evening, they said.
On Friday, Irani would attend a consultative committee meeting in the city with regard to the newly introduced Powertex India, a comprehensive scheme for development of the powerloom sector.
Later, she would meet party workers and public in the evening, before leaving for Delhi, they said.
SOURCE: PTI
Nagpur: "Industries as well as the government needs to have a broader vision for the development of the textile sector. The sector will grow at a higher pace if these institutions work hand in hand," said Ujjwal Uke, principal secretary, textiles, government of Maharashtra.
He was speaking at a workshop organized by Indian Textile Accessories and Machinery Manufactures Association (ITAMMA) and The Textile Association India- Vidarbha (TAI) at Chitnavis Centre, Civil Lines.
Uke, who was also the chief guest at the said that his department is working on the second textiles policy for the state and they are expecting suggestions for the same. Skilled labour and other points raised at the event would also be considered, he added.
The principal secretary further said, "Textile industries must try to connect with universities and other institutions and encourage innovations. It will help the industries and the country." A panel discussion on 'Creating ecosystem for innovation and technology development' was also conducted at the workshop.
"Our country lacks an ecosystem for innovations. It is important that peoples' mindset towards innovators changes. Textile producers must give opportunities to innovators," Kishor Khaitan, one of the panellists and president of ITAMMA said. RK Datta, another panellist, added, "We must focus on use of recyclable synthetic fibres. Clothing waste will be a major problem in the coming days." Issues like consumer needs, availability of machineries, costing of products were discussed at the workshop.
SOURCE: The Times of India
Birla Cellulose, which has already set up a Liva Accredited Partners’ Forum in Indonesia and Bangladesh, is looking to set up a similar forum for vendors in China ‘shortly’
Birla Cellulose, part of Aditya Birla Group’s Grasim Industries, is taking its Liva brand of viscose fabric abroad, a top company official said on Monday. Birla Cellulose has already set up a Liva Accredited Partners’ Forum (LAPF ) in Indonesia and Bangladesh, Birla Cellulose president Manohar Samuel said in an interview.
LAPF is a group of vendors that make, spin, dye, and then supply Liva to apparel makers. The company is looking to set up a similar forum in China “shortly”, Samuel said.
“We have started LAPF in Indonesia, and in Bangladesh. These (countries) are major manufacturing hubs,” Samuel said. “China, we are starting shortly,” he said.
“We will take not just Liva but will also look at Liva Crème, along with our modal fibre (a variant of rayon), spondite fibre, and others. It is a huge and complex market for us.”
Liva Crème, launched this year, is a Liva variant marketed as a softer, more luxurious variant of the flagship Liva. However, the company declined to share details of the physical and technical differences between the two fabrics.
Bangladesh and Indonesia are both large textile manufacturing and garment export hubs. Readymade garments, made in Bangladesh, are the country’s single largest export, worth $28.09 billion in FY2015-16 which made up 82% of Bangladesh’s total exports for the year, as per Bangladesh government data. In 2015, Indonesia’s total textile exports were worth $12.3 billion, according to data from market research firm Oxford Business Group.
Birla Cellulose launched Liva, the lone branded viscose fabric in India, in 2015. Much like with brands like Lycra and Spandex in the US, some of these apparel brands carry the “Liva” tag on their products.
Since launching in 2015, the number of clothes carrying the Liva tag has grown from 18.4 lakh tags to 110 lakh tags currently. The largest Liva “tag carrying” client is Kishore Biyani owned apparel brand and retailer FBB. Other major clients include brands of Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, also owned by the Aditya Birla Group. Liva also sells to global apparel brands including Zara and H&M, although they do not carry the fabric’s tags on their clothing.
Of Birla Cellulose’s total 950 tons of daily production of fabric every day, Liva comprises nearly 38% or 370 tons per day, Samuel said.
SOURCE: The Mint
At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 64.03 a dollar, up 0.14% from its Tuesday’s close of 64.12.
The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened for the fourth consecutive session against the US dollar after foreign investors continued to buy in local equity and debt markets.
The rupee opened at 64.06 a dollar and touched a high of 63.98. At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 64.03 a dollar, up 0.14% from its Tuesday’s close of 64.12.
The benchmark Sensex index fell 0.07% or 21.21 points to 30,112.14. So far this year, it has risen 12.5%.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.8%, while foreign investors bought $6.54 billion and $7.43 billion in local equity and debt markets, respectively.
The 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.941% compared to its previous close of 6.942%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.35%, Philippines peso 0.24%, Taiwan dollar 0.19%, Japanese yen 0.11%, China offshore 0.08%, China renminbi 0.08% and Indonesian rupiah fell 0.08%. However, Malaysian ringgit was up 0.11% and Singapore dollar rose 0.07%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 98.873, down 0.18% from its previous close of 99.045.
President Donald Trump unveiled a one-page plan proposing deep US tax cuts, many for businesses, that would make the federal deficit balloon if enacted, drawing a cautious welcome from fiscal conservatives and financial markets, Reuters reported.
SOURCE: The Mint
The rupee’s march towards a 20-month high against the dollar on Wednesday has cast a shadow over the sustenance of a recent rebound in export growth that touched a six-and-a-half-year high in March.
The rupee’s march towards a 20-month high against the dollar on Wednesday has cast a shadow over the sustenance of a recent rebound in export growth that touched a six-and-a-half-year high in March. While the sustained rise in the rupee poses risk of an erosion of India’s export competitiveness, persistent volatility in the movement of the domestic currency, unless managed, could make it difficult for exporters while firming up contracts, according to exporters from a range of sectors like garments, engineering goods and even farm products.
Garment exporters said while the rupee surged, currencies of competing nations have devalued, brightening their export prospects. The Chinese Yuan got depreciated by around 13%, the Bangladesh Taka by roughly 6% and the Vietnam Dong by about 7% over the last three months or so. If the rupee clocks below 63 and continues to fluctuate for the rest of the fiscal, garments exports could drop by 5-10%, said a major garment exporter, who didn’t want to be named.
Typically, the average currency hedging by exporters across key manufacturing sectors is to the the tune of 50%, an exporter said.
However, smaller players across sectors like textiles and garments are the most vulnerable to the rupee rise, as the hedging is much less, he added.
Ashok G Rajani, chairman of Midas Touch Apparels and also the chief of Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman, too, voiced concern over the currency surge. “Exporters are not able to book orders due to over-valued rupee as apparel exports are highly price-sensitive.” He said the primary reason why a garment package offered last year has not been able to boost exports to the desired level so far is the depreciation of currencies of competing countries like China, Bangladesh and Vietnam when the rupee is strengthening.
FIEO president Ganesh Kumar Gupta said to minimise the impact of the rupee rise, certain incentives in the form of interest subvention, being given to the manufacturers, may be extended to merchant and various other sectors of exports. Moreover, higher MEIS across sector of about 3% can somewhat offset the losses on account of rupee appreciation and further boost exports in such challenging times. He expects that if the currency appreciates in such a manner, the rupee will be in the range of around `62 to a dollar in the next three-months period.
According to the real effective exchange rate (REER) index of the Reserve Bank Of India, the rupee was overvalued by 18% in February and close to 20% in March, Rajani said (see chart). He called for a carefully considered strategy and more pragmatic approach to arrest the rise of the rupee in overall interest of exports employment generation.
TS Bhasin, who exports a lot of engineering goods and is also the chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), said the sharp 47% growth of exports in the sector witnessed in February will be tough to maintain with this kind of the strength of the domestic currency.
The rupee’s rise came at a bad time for Indian exporters when some developed markets, especially the US, are turning more protectionist and price effect with the commodity surge is gradually diminishing. In the absence of any reform to make the transportation and logistics costs — which accounts for roughly cheaper in the country (like trimming the rail freight costs), the rupee’s surge makes a substantial dent in the cost-competitiveness of Indian exporters.
EEPC’s Bhasin said the central bank should ensure that the “liquidity coming in droves in the Indian equity and debt market must not harm our fundamental strength in exports”.
Since many manufacturing centres are far away from ports, the transportation and other expenses drive up India’s cost to export, compared with other Asian peers. According to a World Bank report, India’s cost to export stood at a massive $1,332 per container, compared with $572 in Indonesia, $525 in Malaysia.
Merchandise exports jumped as high as 28% in March from a year before —growing for a seventh straight month even in the aftermath of demonetisation — thanks to a rebound in the outbound shipments of engineering goods, petroleum products and garments, apart from a favourable base. With this, exports in the last fiscal grew 4.7% to $274.64 billion — a much-needed rise after two successive years of decline. But with a strong rupee and diminishing favourable base effect, it’s now becoming increasingly difficult to predict the course of export growth in the coming months, said the exporters.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
Shri Manish Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), while on an invited visited to the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) yesterday, mentioned the “areas of synergy” and “common grounds” that both the organisations can identify for working together. He further said that the two organisations can collaborate in areas including but not limited to MSME, Corporate Governance, CSR, Business Innovation, E Governance and Corporate Communication. He also gave a detailed account of NSDC’s mandate as well as delivery mechanisms. The present visit was aimed at exploring synergy and partnership between the two institutions, which in turn, would lead to effective collaborative work.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sunil Arora, DG & CEO, IICA reiterated the possibility of both the organisations working together covering several domains. Highlighting the need for a close coordination and regular interaction, Shri Arora suggested that teams from both organisations should work towards closing a MoU within a specified period of time. He further articulated that areas of CSR, skill, entrepreneurship, innovation, MSMEs provided ample opportunity to both the organizations to bring together mutual synergies and contribute to policy priorities of the Government.
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) is an autonomous organisation working under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Set up as the premier organisation that aims at providing astute and credible intellectual leadership in corporate regulation, governance and running sustainable businesses, IICA is a capacity development and service delivery institute. The institute works through a network of Schools and Centres based in its campus at Manesar in Haryana.
The National Skill Development Corporation, (NSDC) is a unique Public Private Partnership in India, working under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. It aims to promote skill development by catalysing creation of large, quality, for-profit vocational institutions. NSDC provides funding to build scalable, for-profit vocational training initiatives. Its mandate is also to enable support systems such as quality assurance, information systems and train the trainer academies either directly or through partnerships.
SOURCE: PIB
India on Wednesday expressed concern over the worrying signs of economic protectionism and said the continued unpredictability in ties between major powers has brought new uncertainties to the fore.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said new barriers to migration and the closing of borders are elements of a protectionist approach. Jaitley was addressing the Moscow Security Conference here.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
In India, just 8-10 corporates invest more than ₹500 crore annually in research and development. This was out of more than 960 companies which are listed to be doing R&D, according to Nirmalya Bagchi, Dean of Research and Management Studies, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.
He was speaking at a conference on ‘Fostering Innovation and IP for a better tomorrow’ organised by the CII’s AP Technology Development Centre on the occasion of World IP Day on Wednesday.
Inaugurating the event, Katherine B Hadda, US Consul General, Hyderabad, launched an IP tool kit for start-ups and entrepreneurs, which is aimed at providing necessary understanding about various IPRs and their protection in India.
She said that over 130 US companies have their presence in Hyderabad. The US and India are working together in several areas and have created a technology development fund, which has invested in 25 inventions, at various level of commercialisation. Hadda said the US embassy and US Patent and Trademark Office are working with India and several other countries to promote a strong IP ecosystem.
Bagchi said though the country is a large market, many companies are focussed on marketing, and not innovating. The Indian Patent Office also needs to be further strengthened in terms of infra, information dissemination and quality of services, and speedy examination of Intellectual Property applications.
He felt MSEMEs shoul take advantage of expired patents and come up with good business model for their sustainability.
Anil Kumar Epur, former Chairman, CII Southern Region, urged every industry/business — small or big — to systematically take the steps required for identifying, protecting, and managing its IP assets, to gain the best possible commercial results from its ownership.
Ajit Rangnekar, Director-General, Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad, suggested that the industry needs to concentrate on innovation 2.0 — producing more for more people at a cheaper cost.
K Varaprasad, Assistant Controller of Patents and Design, IPO, Chennai, stated that the possibility of innovation, with a focus on IP and getting investments, should be explored. We need to ensure new knowledge is available for tomorrow’s inventors, he added.
The conference was attended by 100 delegates from R&D companies, start-ups, and IP and legal professionals.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The Trump administration has no inherent objection to the India-US free trade agreement though there have been no serious discussions with New Delhi over the issue, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said.
The US does not have a free trade agreement with India and as a result India-US trade relationship is currently governed under the World Trade Organisation, Ross told reporters at a White House news conference. Currently, the US has free trade agreements with 20 countries.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
The significant drop in solar power tariffs in the past few months is a reflection of huge pent-up demand in the system, according to Sunil Jain, CEO and ED of Hero Future Energies Ltd.
Speaking on the sidelines of a CII meet on rooftop solar projects here on Tuesday, Jain said, “I am keeping my fingers crossed. You may see a lower price offer in the latest bidding process, which is now under way at Bhadla in Rajasthan. This may see a new low once the reverse bidding process is completed.”
For a 750 MW solar power project, the bidding process now under way has seen bids for over 8000 MW, that is bids are more than 10 times of what is on offer. This shows that investors and developers are keen to be part of projects that ensure proper returns, he said.
“I will not be surprised if the rates go below ₹3 per unit. Eventually, the prices may settle down at ₹2.80 or ₹2.90 per unit,” he said.
The lower prices have been aided by a number of factors, including drop in module rates globally, lower cost of funding, and the assured returns on investment.
This is also one of the reasons the government has doubled the solar parks target from 20 gigawatt to 40 GW, Jain said.
“In less than four years of operations, we have an installed capacity of 600 MWof renewable energy. This is expected to cross one GW by August 2017. In addition, we have installed 20 MW of rooftop solar thus far and planning to take this up to 60 MW. Another 35 MW is in pipeline,” Jain said.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The Trump administration has proposed slashing tax rates for businesses and on overseas corporate profits returned to the US in an ambitious bid to boost the economy.
If adopted, the plan would be the biggest overhaul to the tax system since the Reagan era.
“Our objective is to make US businesses the most competitive in the world. Right now we have a 35 per cent corporate rate on worldwide income and deferral. It is perhaps the most complicated and uncompetitive business rate in the world,” explained Steve Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary.
Though the blueprint was lacking in details, Trump’s economic team outlined a cut in corporate tax rates from 35% to 15%.
The proposal to reduce inheritance taxes is of special interest to auto dealers, which are often family controlled businesses. Although some criticised the plans as a ‘tax cut for the rich’.
The changes would also see the number of personal income tax brackets come down from seven to just three: rates of 10%, 25% and 35%.
All of which could make the federal deficit rise, unless the cuts create massive and sustained economic growth. Fears over the deficit could put Trump on a collision course with Congress.
Donald Trump’s ambitious plan to cut corporate taxes will be a major boost for US companies and the dollar, but may spell bad news for emerging markets.
US President Donald Trump’s ambitious plan to cut corporate taxes in the world’s largest economy would be a major boost for US companies and the dollar, but may spell bad news for emerging markets.
Trump proposed slashing tax rates for businesses to 15% from the current 35% for public corporations, and 39.6% for small businesses. Overseas corporate profits returned to the country will also be taxed at 15%.
If the proposals are legislated, US companies would go from being the most highly taxed among the Group of 20 countries to among the lowest. The plan still has to go through Congress.
“If this were to go through, the best place to invest for the next few years, would be US companies and US dollar. The US dollar will strengthen substantially, as money will be repatriated back,” said Ritesh Jain, a finance expert, who has held senior positions in asset management companies. “America will be great for investors,” he added. Jain explained that US companies would bring back money parked elsewhere to the US, and that this would hurt emerging markets, which have either dollar liabilities, or where foreign trade forms a big part of the GDP (gross domestic product).
“India may not be hurt as badly, but it will not be insulated,” pointed Jain.
This seemed to be the consensus view.
“If this goes through, emerging markets could be hurt, as flows will be diverted to the US, because tax cuts would ensure higher profitability,” said Ravi Sundar Muthukrishnan, co-head of research, ICICI Securities Ltd.
US stocks, however, erased some of the gains made soon after the plan was announced, because the one-page proposal unveiled by the Trump administration lacked information in detail and there were concerns as to how the government would tackle a surge in federal deficit if the plan were to be enacted.
There is also a minority contrarian theory that emerging markets would actually benefit from the proposed tax cuts.
More money in the hands of US companies, would lead to more investments in emerging markets, which carry huge growth potential, this theory argues.
“It would mean that American firms will have more money, and emerging markets could be beneficiaries because of increased FDI (foreign direct investment) and FII (foreign institutional investors) investments,” said Gautam Trivedi, chief executive officer at Religare Capital Markets Ltd.
“It is a positive reform, if it does go through.”
Asian shares eased from a near two-year high on Thursday as the tax cut plan failed to inspire investors, though sentiment remained supported by global growth prospects. Indian shares also retreated from record highs in opening trades on Thursday, as investors locked in gains.
SOURCE: The Mint
Africa’s top cotton grower sees output rising by as much as 20 percent in the 2017-18 season.
An industry official in Burkina Faso said cotton output will surge to 820,000 metric tons and added that the target is realistic and achievable if rains are favorable and well distributed over the season.
According to Bloomberg, Georges Yameogo, general secretary of the country’s cotton association, told reporters this on Saturday in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso harvested 683,000 tons of cotton in the 2016-17 season, which was below the target of 700,000 tons due due lack of rains in September.
This is still 17 percent higher than the 586,000 tons harvested in the 2015-16 season, Georges revealed.
The price for the new season was set at 245 CFA Francs ($0.40) a kilogram up from 235 Francs the previous season.
SOURCE: Africanews
Rwanda and six other African countries have exhibited economic resilience in recent past that saw them post annual growth rate above 5.4 per cent in 2015-2017, this is according to a new World Bank report released on Wednesday.
According to the latest Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies conducted by the Wor ld Bank, the six others countries include Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania.
The World Bank said, these countries economies, registered upswing in economic performance partly on account of strong domestic demand.
Adding that the countries house nearly 27% of the region’s population and account for 13% of the region’s total GDP.
Rwanda’s economy grew by 5.9 per cent in 2016, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR)..Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is rebounding in 2017 after registering the worst decline in more than two decades in 2016, the Bank said.
“The region is showing signs of recovery, and regional growth is projected to reach 2.6% in 2017. However, the recovery remains weak, with growth expected to rise only slightly above population growth, a pace that hampers efforts to boost employment and reduce poverty,” the WB said.
Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola, the continent’s largest economies, are seeing a rebound from the sharp slowdown in 2016, but the recovery has been slow due to insufficient adjustment to low commodity prices and policy uncertainty, it added.
Furthermore, the WB says, several oil exporters in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) are facing economic difficulties.
SOURCE: Africanews
