The Union government has put scores of small textile exporting companies on the verge of closure by withdrawing export concessions with retrospective effect. In a recent notification, the Government has not only announced that it will withdraw the benefit of 4 per cent MEIS (merchandise export incentive scheme) on exports of made-ups and garments with retrospective effect from March, but also recover MEIS incentive given till July. To top it all, the government has not yet implemented the scheme to reimburse taxes on exports under RoSCTL (Rebate on State and Central taxes and levies) scheme announced last March. Maulik Modi, promoter of Kewal Implex told BusinessLine, that he has been in business for last 20 years and has never heard of something like a Government asking exporters repay the incentives they have availed. “In October, we had booked export orders worth ₹4.5 crore pricing in the 12 per cent incentive, and these commitments need to be met till March. Just because the government has withdrawn the incentives, we cannot renegotiate the price now. Buyers will laugh at Indian government,” said Modi, who exports various kinds of towels across the world.
Dire situation
The textile export industry, which operates on a 4 per cent margin, is on the verge of collapse after the withdrawal of the 12 per cent concession. Sensing trouble, risk averse banks have already started cutting down their exposure to textile exporters, exerting huge pressure on working capital. If the situation continues about 50 per cent of export-oriented small textile units will shut down, leading to many job losses and casting aspersion on the Government which came to power on job creation plank, said Modi. Early this week, the Government has announced a fresh duty draw back of 4 per cent but the industry does not want to believe the government now. “What is the guarantee that the Government will keep its words this time around. We can survive without any incentive, but do not keep tinkering with policies every now and then,” said Modi.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
The notification on revision of drawback schedule will come into effect from February 4, 2020. Ministry of Finance has issued a notification revising drawback schedule for apparel sector, which will come into effect from February. While for the cotton-based products it would be around 0.2 per cent increase, for man-made fiber and blended garments it would be around 0.4-0.6 per cent. While welcoming the announcement, exporters said that government should focus on signing FTA and clearing the ROSTL, which is affecting the working capital of the exporters. The notification will come into effect from February 4, 2020. For cotton t-shirt after revision the drawback rate would be 2.1 per cent as against 1.9 per cent, blended 3.5 per cent vs 2.9 per cent and man-made it will be three per cent as against 2.5 per cent. Exporters said, hike is marginal and sceptical of whether it will enhance the exports, which is dropping. In 2018-19 (April -December) Ready Made Garment (RMG) export was $11.363 billion and in 2019-2020 it increased to $11.457 billion. Exporters not only want higher rate, they also want free trade agreements (FTAs) and they have decided to make representation with Central Government, says Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), which represent major section of exporters from Tirupur, which does exports worth Rs 24,000 crore. A leading exporter added, “whatever the duties and taxes including embedded taxes paid are given back in the form of GST, ROSCTL and Drawback. Government won't give more than this. Only thing they can do is for entering into FTA with EU, UK, Australia and Canada." Another concern is that the government has not cleared the pending claims. For example to Tirupur units alone around Rs 1,400 crore is pending and early this week only, Government issued procedure for claiming RoSCTL benefits.
Source: Business Standard
The government on Thursday said it has rolled back duty incentives to apparel and made-ups exports under the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) due to the introduction of taxes and levies rebate scheme Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL). “On account of introduction of RoSCTL, MEIS for items of the apparel and madeups sector for exports made with effect from March 7, 2019 stands withdrawn,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice. RoSCTL announced on March 7, 2019 was in addition to the MEIS benefits available to the industry at the rate of 4%. While MEIS was given for infrastructural and logistics cost disadvantage and RoSCTL was offered for embedded state and central duties and taxes that are not refunded through goods and services tax. The ministry has rolled back the incentives under the MEIS under which the government provides duty benefits depending on product and country. Rewards under the scheme are payable as percentage of realised free-onboard value and MEIS duty credit scrips can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties, including the basic customs duty. MEIS is inconsistent with the global trade rules of the World Trade Organization. Exporters said while the move gives clarity on the status of incentives, it will make exports less competitive as on certain products like Tshirts, the overall incentive will decline from around 7.8% to around 6%. “This gives clarity that exporters can file only one claim. There was no clarity earlier,” said Ajay Sahai, director general, Federation of Indian Export Organisations. A Delhi-based exporter of apparel said that the move will take industry backwards and make it less competitive as the overall incentive is lower than before. The directorate has also laid out a detailed procedure to avail benefits under the RoSCTL scheme. An application for claiming rebate under this scheme shall be filed online using digital signature on DGFT''s website, it said. "The relevant shipping bills shall be linked with the online application by the exporter. A maximum of 50 shipping bills would be allowed to be attached in one single application by the exporter in the online module," it added.
Source: Economic Times
The US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) has urged India to announce reduction and streamlining of various tax and tariff structures and open up the economy, saying that would fast track growth and generate large-scale employment. It put forth recommendations to improve ease of doing business, tax guidelines and compliance and digital taxation framework. In a letter to Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, USIPF said as businesses become increasingly digital, India's digital taxation model needs to be globally aligned for the future. Ahead of the budget 2020, USISPF urged Sitharaman to allow 2 per cent mandatory spend on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a tax-deductible expense. Seeking to defer implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) e-invoicing scheme until legal and technical challenges are addressed, USISPF recommended to include natural gas under the ambit of GST. It requested Sitharaman to address trade barriers by resolving legislative and procedural challenges under the Customs Law and sought certainty in tax policies to foster positive investment sentiments, according to a news agency report.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
To attract higher foreign investment in the textile sector, India has planned a complete overhaul of a scheme to create world-class infrastructure facilities for setting up textile units. The government is considering a plan to set up 1,000-acre mega textile parks as it revamps the Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP) whose slow progress is attributed to delay in obtaining land and other statutory clearances from state governments and slow fund mobilisation by the textile parks. Launched in 2005, the scheme aims to provide industry with state of the art world-class infrastructure facilities for setting up their textile units. A total of 59 textile parks have been sanctioned under SITP by the textiles ministry out of which 22 textile parks have been completed and rest are under various stages of construction Textiles ministry has circulated a cabinet note, a senior government official told ET. As per another official, the overhauled scheme could be part of the proposed textile policy for which many detailed studies are going on. “The idea to make mega textile parks is to attract FDI,” said another official. From April 2000 to September 2019, India's textiles sector received Rs 19,398.71 crore or $3.3 billion of FDI which is 0.74% of the total inflows. Under the SITP, infrastructure facilities for setting up of textile units are developed in a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model, with the government granting upto 40% of project cost with ceiling limit of Rs 40 crore for each park. An expert committee on textiles had in 2015 suggested the idea of mega textile parks and proposed the ministry to partner with states to set these up so as to be able to absorb about $5 billion per year of fresh investment. It recommended that Mega Textile Parks should be developed especially in the planned Industrial Corridors and be provided cheaper and reliable power supply. Textile manufacturers and exporters concurred that the extant textile park scheme is not successful. “The government is not happy with the existing scheme and the size of the parks now which can be anything above 20 acres. These are smaller parks and they also have not taken off very well,” said a Delhi-based manufacturer of textiles and apparel. As per the manufacturer, there is empty space in the parks and a lack of investment climate has hindered the scheme’s progress. Experts said the government may also revamp the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) which is used to promote technical textiles and generate employment in the apparel and garment sectors.
Source: Economic Times
Exporters on Thursday urged the government to review the possible impact of deadly Coronavirus on trade as China is one of the top trading partners for India. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that if the problem persists for long, it may impact domestic mobile manufacturers as they import certain components from China. "Mobile exporters may face issues if the problem will continue for long as they import lot of components from the neighbouring country," FIEO Director General Ajaya Sahai said. He added that certain Indian exporters have received inquiries from Hong Kong and China for import of N72 masks. "We have provided details of those suppliers to them," he said. Engineering exporters said that China is among the top ten destinations for engineering shipments. "We urged the government to review the possible impact of deadly Coronavirus on trade as well," the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India said in a statement. Indian engineering exports to China increased by a significant 27.60 per cent to USD 1.77 billion (about Rs 12,600 crore) during AprilDecember 2019-20 from USD 1.33 billion (about Rs 9,500 crore) a year ago, according to EEPC India analysis. "In fact, China has emerged as our 10th largest export destination for engineering goods, dominated by iron and steel as also industrial machinery,'' EEPC Chairman Ravi Sehgal said. With disruptions reported in China due to transport and travel restrictions in several cities, the council is trying to ascertain the exact impact on trade, Sehgal said. "Exports to China showed significant increase against the backdrop of overall negative trend of 1.95 per cent in total engineering exports of USD 57.9 billion for the April-December 2019-20 period," he said. The deadly Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in China with 25 new fatalities reported from central Hubei province, taking the death toll to 132 and confirmed infection cases to nearly 6,000, as health experts warned that the epidemic may reach its peak in the next 10 days resulting in large-scale casualties.
Source: Economic Times
India is among the countries on the UK government's target list for a new post-Brexit trade campaign from Saturday, a day after the country formally leaves the European Union, as it seeks to strike new ties with partners around the globe at the end of 47 years of EU membership. Mumbai is among 18 cities across 13 countries to be part of the drive, designed to push the message that Britain is now free to do its own new trade deals with countries around the world as a non-member of the soon-to-be 27-member economic bloc, after 47 years of UK membership ends on Friday. "On 1 February, the new GREAT ‘Ready to Trade' campaign will launch in 18 cities across 13 countries outside the EU, as the UK seeks to deepen our relationships with future global partners,” Downing Street said in a statement on the eve of Brexit. The campaign will initially feature digital outdoor advertising in signature locations across the chosen cities and later expand to other activities. Besides India, the others on the list include Australia (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney), Brazil (Sao Paulo), Canada (Toronto), China (Shanghai, Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), Mexico (Mexico City), Singapore (Singapore), South Africa (Johannesburg), South Korea (Seoul), Turkey (Istanbul), UAE (Dubai) and USA (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago). The UK's Department for International Trade, leading the new drive, says its “GREAT” brand has already proved successful around the world, with surveys indicating those who recognise it are almost twice as likely to say they would trade with the UK in the next three years than those who don't. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged a “new and improved” trading relationship as part of a “truly special UK-India relationship” on the election campaign trail last year. But as a member of the EU, the UK was not permitted to open up any separate negotiations with other countries. With the EU Withdrawal Agreement, the so-called divorce bill costing the UK around GBP 30 billion, now having been formally passed by the European Parliament on Wednesday evening 621 votes to 49, the UK's exit on Friday at 2300 GMT (04:30 IST on Saturday) remains a mere formality. It would then set off a transition period until the end of December this year, during which time the UK is free to conduct trade negotiations not only for a new agreement with the EU but also around the world. It therefore marks a key milestone in the process set off by the Brexit vote in the June 2016 referendum. “Friday marks an important moment in the history of our United Kingdom,” said Johnson, in his Brexit message. “No matter how you voted in 2016, it is the time to look ahead with confidence to the global, trail-blazing country we will become over the next decade and heal past divisions. That is what I will be doing on 31 January and I urge everyone across the UK to do the same,” he said. Brexiteer demands for the under-refurbishment Big Ben to be briefly revived to chime in the final hours of the UK's EU membership on Friday night were not approved due to cost considerations. However, Downing Street has set out a series of activities to mark the historic moment of the UK leaving the bloc after 47 years. A commemorative 50-pence coin will come into circulation, with Johnson being presented the very first Brexit coin which reads ‘Peace prosperity and friendship with all nations'. The coin has come under some criticism for a missing comma after peace, but around 13,000 people have already registered their interest in the coin with the UK's Royal Mint. Other activities to mark Brexit Day will include a Special Cabinet on tour – with the meeting of Johnson and his top team set for an undisclosed location in the north of England as a message of unity. The UK prime minister will later address the nation just before the final Brexit hour, marked by a commemorative light display in Downing Street. The UK's Union Jack flags will line Parliament Square and the Mall in London on Friday, with government buildings in Whitehall lit up in its red, white and blue colours throughout the evening.
Source: Economic Times
The government should focus on alternate measures to stimulate economy as it is not possible to give fiscal stimulus, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said ahead of the Budget. Kumar also said growth-enhancing measures are the need of the hour to achieve India's potential growth rate of 7-8 per cent per annum. He attributed the current slowdown to low investment, muted consumption expenditure and lagging exports. Experts are divided over whether the government should provide stimulus to boost slowing economy without bothering too much about fiscal deficit. "Growth-enhancing measures are the need of the hour to achieve India's potential growth rate of 7-8 per cent per annum. "However, the government's ability to finance a large stimulus is admittedly constrained. Therefore, attention will have to be on alternate measures to stimulate a recovery," Kumar said in a newsletter 'arthNITI'. The Niti Aayog's vice-chairman noted that some green shoots of recovery are now visible with the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for both manufacturing and services showing a smart rise to above 52, which signifies expansion. He also said there have already been plenty of measures taken by the government in the recent past, including the decision to lower corporate tax rates in September 2019. "The equity markets have responded positively and strongly to these measures and recorded all-time highs. Still, all eyes are now on Budget 2020 for further growth-enhancing measures," Kumar said. Noting that growth, equity and sustainability can no longer be viewed as mutually exclusive, he said, "We cannot achieve one goal while neglecting the other two." Our policy design should, Kumar said, always have these three principle goals that are also enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the Global Agenda 2030, for the achievement of which, all UN members have given their unequivocal commitment. The Indian economy, which till recently was hailed as the fastest-growing major economy, has seen growth rate decline in each of the past five quarters, falling to over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in July-September 2019. The National Statistical Office (NSO) has estimated the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year at 5 per cent, which is 11-year low. During the current year ending March 2020, the fiscal deficit target has been pegged at 3.3 per cent of the GDP. However, there are apprehensions the government may miss the target in view of the slower economic growth and likely shortfall in revenue collection, mainly because of massive cut in the corporate tax rate. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present Budget 2020-21 on February 1.
Source: Economic Times
Assam has emerged as the top state in terms of best practices followed in budget formulation, followed by Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, says a survey by Transparency International. The survey was based on four parameters -- public disclosure, budgetary process, post budget fiscal management and efforts to make budget more transparent and citizen friendly. The states which figured lower in the ranking were Goa, Maharashtra and Punjab. "It is ironical that being a 'Union of States', state budgets in India have never received such importance as claimed by Union Budget. "As a result, most of the state budgets are neither inclusive nor transparent; this is not good for country in general and that state in particular," Transparency International said in its report.
Source: Economic Times
Budget 2020: Govt should allocate more funds in rural areas
The government has been taking multiple steps to address and resolve the tensions pertaining to trade and consumption slump in the country. Last year’s budget accentuated upon the need for heavy investment in infrastructure, digital economy and job creation in small and medium firms. We expect that the upcoming budget will provide substantial weightage in the rural spend so as to provide the rural population with an opportunity to increase and improve their spending power. Providing the consumers the ability to spend more will give an impetus for the country’s economy. One of the tactics could be by increasing the MSPs and push in the infrastructure budgets for the rural India. FMCG sector is the first to recover and grow in such slowing economies. Government’s initiatives towards substantial budget investments will help the growth and development of Indian economy. We hope to see positive steps towards lowering the tax slabs for individuals as it will further result in boosting consumption of our country. Overall, we expect the upcoming budget to have an overview of the entire Indian economy and heighten the consumer confidence.
Source: Deccan Herald
What can 1,88,708 used PET bottles do to the environment? A lot of damage, actually. But thanks to Tennis Australia and Tirupur-based garments company NC John & Sons, they have been given new life as apparel for ball boys, girls, and courstside statisticians at the ongoing Australian Open tennis tournament. The company has tailored 25,000 garments for the tournament, all of them 100% recycled polyester. Seated in his office at the Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) campus in Tirupur, Alexander Neroth, CEO of NC John & Sons, shows us T-shirts, leggings, shorts, zipper-jackets and tennis dresses that his company made as part of the order. In aqua blue, white, and green, the apparel is made of polyester filament yarn from recycled plastic bottles. “We got the yarn imported from Taiwan,” explains the 46-year-old. “The fabric,” he adds, “Was knitted and dyed in Surat, and brought to Tirupur. Our team of around 100 tailors, most of them women, created the outfits based on the designs from Tennis Australia.” For Alexander, whose company has been making sustainable apparel since 2007, this is business as usual. But he does add that he is happy that their work has put them in the spotlight. “We got the order from Tennis Australia through one of our customers in Australia,” he explains, adding that his company has been chiefly exporting garments to the US and the UK. “The team visited us in November last year to ensure that the entire process was green.” In fact, 40% of the power consumed by SIDCO in Tirupur is from wind and solar energy. Alexander, however, wishes that more industries in the textile and knit wear hub, located on the banks of the Noyyal river 52 kilometres from Coimbatore, come forward to tap into the market polyester has to offer. This is also among the reasons why Alexander’s recycled garments have not entered the Indian market yet. But he hopes to sell in India soon. “People in our country are by nature concerned about the environment,” he feels, adding, “In a year or two, we plan to launch our own brand.” Polyester, however, is often not considered to be on a par with cotton — a lot of people prefer the latter for its natural properties. Alexander is now getting a lot of enquiries for his sustainable apparel — his company also does clothes in organic cotton blends and recycled cotton. “We started making apparel with 100% recycled polyester a couple of years ago. Right now, 90% of what we do is sustainable. Soon, we hope to reach the 100% mark,” he explains. Alexander just received an email from a leading cricketer’s brand. “Imagine if the Indian cricket team wore our T-shirts,” he says. “I will be much happier then: the entire nation will get to see them.”
Source: The Hindu
The government on Thursday appointed M Ajit Kumar as chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. The appointment comes just two days before the Union Budget presentation. "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment," said an official release.
Source: Business Standard
A lawmaker on Thursday urged various government agencies to work together to strengthen the country's textile industry. Speaking at the Philippine Silk Summit here, Senator Nancy Binay said collaboration among different government agencies is necessary to oversee the process of silk production and other indigenous fabrics. "We cannot emphasize enough the need for various agencies, foremost of these the DOST (Department of Science and Technology), the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Trade and Industry, to come up with a flawless working relationship with our farmers, fabric weavers, dressmakers, entrepreneurs, among others," Binay said. She added that each of these agencies should have a clear understanding of its function with regard to production. The DOST, particularly its Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), must ensure continued research and development (R&D) and knowledge transfer, she said. The DA, meanwhile, should use PTRI's research to focus on providing farmers with the support they need to increase their capability to properly propagate mulberry trees and silkworms. "We should put in place the proper infrastructure and mechanisms that would provide farmers with a better environment to work," Binay said. The DTI, on the other hand, must be active in branding, product development, and ensure that silk entrepreneurs would benefit from their hard work, so they could be more encouraged to fill in the demand. "Ang pagpapayabong ng silk industry ay responsibilidad ng lahat at hindi lamang iisang ahensya (Revitalizing the silk industry is everyone's responsibility)," she said. " (The) government's presence must be felt in every step of the way -- from planting mulberry trees, silkworm cultivation to unraveling the cocoons into filaments that become thread, and in transforming fabric into something of higher value than the raw material." PTRI's role Binay acknowledged PTRI's efforts in fulfilling its mandate to oversee the textile innovations in the country. She shared that she had visited some areas in the country that are involved in silk production. These include the Silkworm Breeding and Multiplication Facility in Misamis, Oriental, the Negros Sericulture Project, and the Abai Weavers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Laguindingan. "I would like to commend PTRI for striving to do more than what their mandate requires them. I have seen how our agencies involved in revitalizing the silk industry are squeezing efforts to provide solutions to address different issues in silk production, such as the low production and manufacturing capacity," she said. As chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Binay said she would continue to support efforts to make the silk industry sustainable and vibrant. "Let us help each other so we could collect funds to establish silk production hubs in Luzon, (the) Visayas, and Mindanao. I believe this would reduce production cost since there would be no need for inter-island transport to complete (the) production process. Further, this could generate employment for many Filipinos," she said.
Source: PNA
The south Punjab contributes lion’s share of cotton to run the country’s textile sector, but the manufacturers of the region have squeezed production due to high cost of production. The textile and spinning mills used to run round-the-clock in three shifts in peak season, but a large number of manufacturers have closed one shift and sacked workers due to high power tariff and cost of production. The textile manufacturers have expressed their helplessness in competing with the world markets. Talking to The News, Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sheikh Fazal Elahi said that the textile and spinning sectors were mainly hit in the cotton belt area due to high power tariff. The country's exports would not be able to compete with China, Bangladesh and India where power tariffs were seven to nine cents, he said, adding that the textile industry had taken a sigh of relief when the present government announced regionally competitive electricity tariff at 7.5 cents for the export-oriented sectors and it led to new investment and revival of closed units of textile sector, besides generating 500,000 additional jobs. He said that the export-oriented industry could not sustain exports on inflated electricity bills, therefore, the government must resolve this issue without any delay. Spinners told The News that the spinning was an export-oriented sector, but it was facing a critical burden of increased electricity tariff up to 70pc. The government was charging high rate of surcharges against the cost of actual electricity consumed, they said, adding that the spinning sector would be unable to compete with China in the coming months. The government had ended subsidy on electricity due to which tariff for textile was increased by Rs 8 per unit along with other industries and now the electricity was available for the textile sector at Rs 20 per unit instead of Rs 12 per unit. The powerloom owners observed that the exports were going to suffer heavily due to the increase in electricity tariff, which had decreased cotton trade volume. Pakistan Powerloom Owners Association chairman Khaliq Qandil said that high cost of electricity had almost destroyed the exports. He said that the government had promised charging fixed gas tariff and consequently they shifted their entire heavy electricity generators to gas by incurring huge cost, but now the government had increased gas tariff at unaffordable level. Now, all the manufacturers were facing gas loadshedding. He said that all production units had been shut so far, leaving thousands of workers unemployed. He added that Pakistan currently needed 14 million bales of cotton, but production was eight million bales. He said that the powerloom owners must import cotton to make up for the shortfall of four million bales.
Source: The News
Textile companies from Pakistan are continually establishing production units in Bangladesh due to availability of better infrastructure, cheaper utility prices and attractive tax incentives. According to Bangladesh deputy high commissioner in Pakistan Noor-e-Helal Saifur Rahman, a Pakistani enterprise is about to make a very big investment in Bangladesh. He, however, did not disclose the name of the Pakistani company while speaking to a Pakistani newspaper on the sidelines of a recent seminar titled ‘Talking Bangladesh Where Export and Investment Grow Better’. Pakistan’s Soorty Enterprises, which invested $35 million by setting up a factory in Bangladesh more than five years ago, now employs 6,000 Bangladeshis, he said. Bangladesh had planned to develop 100 economic zones nationwide over the next 15 years, which would create 10 million jobs and produce export-oriented goods worth $40 billion, he told the seminar. Bangladesh has invited Prime Minister Imran Khan to the upcoming D8 summit, he said. Balance of trade between the two countries is lopsided, he noted. According to latest data from the UN Comtrade, Pakistan’s exports to Bangladesh in 2018 were valued at $783.82 million. On the other hand, Pakistan’s imports from the country amounted to $72 million in the same period. In the first six months of fiscal 2019-20, Pakistan recorded a trade imbalance of $11.7 billion, down 32 per cent, compared to the corresponding period of last year, when it faced a deficit of $16.8 billion.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
As a large enterprise, it is imperative to operate with secure, uninterrupted network connectivity to avoid costly downtime and lack of productivity. For Fibertex, this was top priority and ultimately meant continuous, rigorous testing and monitoring to ensure it achieved overall success. Thomas Martens, IT Team Lead and Senior IT Administrator, tells us why the company chose a Barracuda solution to improve performance.
Counting the cost
As the third largest producer in the world of non-woven materials, Danish manufacturer, Fibertex, counts the cost when its factories grind to a halt due to network connectivity failure. After 15 minutes, it stops production. The subsequent downtime costs around 100,000kr for every hour lost. “Connectivity at two of our largest production sites in Malaysia was a major problem for us. We were reliant on two very expensive MPLS lines and when one went down, the other line typically didn’t work. This meant problems connecting with our Danish HQ in Aalborg. We’ve got 14 factories in total with multiple lines on every site. But with the ERP system running from Denmark, everything at our remote locations ran really slowly, which was very frustrating and network latency was really high,” said Thomas Martens, IT Team Lead and Senior IT Administrator. “We work with medical materials, so the quality and safety of our products is critical. If you have kids, it’s likely that you have used products made by Fibertex at some point. This means continuous, rigorous testing and monitoring to ensure that they meet the highest standards. Our customers expect nothing less. We need to track everything to maintain our stringent hygiene and cleaning standards. We simply cannot afford production downtime.” The existing firewall solution also meant that troubleshooting was difficult, meaning that Martens and the team spent half a day, every day on network maintenance.
Investing in a software-defined future
“This couldn’t go on. We needed secure, uninterrupted network connectivity at all of our locations, more bandwidth and low latency to keep everything running. Using multiple ISP links, load balancing and automatic fall back was also essential, so we knew we were looking at implementing SD-WAN,” said Martens. Martens therefore turned to trusted IT security partner, Ezenta, for advice and Senior Network Specialist, Mikkel Planck, suggested Barracuda’s offerings. “Barracuda quickly set up a proof of concept trial for its CloudGen Firewall. I was really impressed with what I saw. The set up only took two days. Barracuda installed three boxes directly on our sites in Denmark and Malaysia, in addition to a virtual firewall. We let the trial run and one week in, there was a major line drop during testing. We were braced for the usual disruption but everything continued to work without interruption. We tested other vendors at the time but nothing came close to Barracuda,” said Martens.
Reaping the rewards
“We’ve installed Barracuda’s firewall solution at 14 of our 22 locations so far in Japan, America, Malaysia, Brazil and across Europe. Thanks to the proof of concept trial, deployment has been seamless. Setting up a new location takes just minutes, we can do this at the flick of a switch. The configuration stays the same, we just set up a new box without any downtime or migration problems. It’s really easy to replace a unit and we can just choose the line with the lowest latency if we need to change lines for one of our sites.” A single management interface means the team can easily visualise and monitor network performance and they now only spend a few hours each week on any maintenance. “We don’t even have to look every day. The old firewall meant we spent hours each day troubleshooting but now we have the time to spend on new projects like upgrading our infrastructure and carrying out a new SharePoint installation.” “We were also highly impressed with the level of support from Alex and the Barracuda team. We felt like we were on our own before without much support from our previous vendor. We are now part of a really great partnership with Barracuda and Ezenta.”
Looking ahead
Data analytics is on the roadmap and Martens is looking at how Barracuda Firewall Insights can help the team better manage the network and SD-WAN connections. Thomas Martens explains in more detail why the Barracuda solution was a great fit for Fibertex.
Can you provide an overview of Fibertex’s core business objectives?
Our primary business objective is to stand out and be the best among our competitors when it comes to quality. Accordingly, we strive to provide a dependable and reliable offering, so people feel safe using our product when it comes to providing for their customers. We know that we are not the cheapest out there, but our quality is second to none and that makes it worth the price tag. What were some of the unique cyberthreats you experienced when operating with the previous solution? Have these now been resolved with Barracuda? Our main priority was that we required the functionality of the SD-WAN. We had a few issues with ransomware prior to utilising the Barracuda software and since employing the new solution we haven’t had any ransomware trouble at all. Since moving to Barracuda, we directly benefit from the practicality of SD-WAN as well as enjoying the peace of mind that comes from knowing our security is taken care of.
What kinds of efficiencies has the seamless solution enabled?
We benefit from much more stable production now and don’t suffer from network connectivity failures as we did before. Thanks to SD-WAN, if one Internet connection breaks down, the other line takes over. As a result, we are preventing expensive product downtime and saving a lot of time elsewhere too, in both maintaining the solution and in closing down the lines if we lost connectivity and restarting them again when we regained connection.
What security benefits does visualising and monitoring network performance offer?
By visualising and monitoring network performance we are able to get a clearer overview of our network infrastructure in operation across the world. Alongside this, since employing Barracuda’s solutions, we are able to figure out performance issues regarding network and latency with ease in order to quickly resolve them, which was a big problem with our old vendor.
What sort of long-term benefits has the solution provided?
It’s definitely saved costs. We no longer have to pay for expensive MPLS lines and with our old solution we had to spend a lot of money on consultants – this is no longer an issue for us. Deploying Barracuda CloudGen Firewall has saved the business 400,000kr so far. Furthermore, a considerable amount of our own time was also spent trying to maintain the previous solution. With Barracuda, everything is stable and runs smoothly, freeing up our time to focus on the projects that really matter to our business. This allows us to competitively differentiate from our competitors.
What does the future security roadmap look like for Fibertex?
First on the to-do list, we still need to replace a few of our old firewalls with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall. When that’s complete, we will start to look into optimising our set up further. Additionally, we are looking into ensuring our setup is more secure, by both improving user awareness and employee training, and by implementing a more holistic security setup with Barracuda Next-Generation anti-virus.
Source: Intelligentcio
Fashion for Good’s South Asia Innovation Programme has officially started with the selection of 9 new innovators selected by the jury members including managing director Katrin Ley. The selected innovators in the first ever South Asia Innovation Programme batch are: Alt Mat, Block Texx, Descatuk, Indra, Infinichains, JSP, PurFi, Sasmira and Textile Genesis. With innovations in raw materials, wastewater management, dyeing solutions, textile waste solutions, blockchain, AI and machine learning innovations, the first batch of regional start-ups join a global selection of start-ups at the cutting-edge who are driving the industry’s transformation towards a circular system. “We are staunch ambassadors of industry-wide collaboration. With the launch of our regional Programme in South Asia we strengthen our network and position us to better serve local manufacturers, key supply chain actors, brands and innovators. By connecting them to our global network and leading players in the fashion ecosystem, we help the innovators’ solutions and technologies reach scale,” said Ley. Sixteen innovators from across the region attended the launch of the Fashion for Good South Asia Innovation Programme to pitch their innovations for the opportunity to join the Programme. The jury, consisting of members of the Fashion for Good Advisory Council including: Neelandra Singh, managing director India at adidas; Bart de Meirsman, director Sourcing at C&A; and Tejas Sampat, director of Corporate Responsibility South Asia at PVH Corp; as well as regional launch partners: Aamir Akhtar, CEO of Arvind Mills; Lakshmi Poti, programme manager Sustainable Raw Materials at Laudes Foundation (formerly C&A Foundation); and Dipali Goenka, joint managing director of Welspun Ltd, along with Ley selected the final 9 innovators from the group who will participate in the Programme. “The Fashion for Good South Asia Innovation Programme brings together the most promising innovators whose technologies are set to transform the industry with manufacturers, like us, on the ground. The platform provides a pool of incredible talent that we can tap into and implement in our own ongoing efforts to move our supply chain towards circularity, and we are pleased to support the Programme and lead the way in sustainability,” said Goenka. Over the next four months, the 9 innovators, will receive mentoring, bespoke coaching and support from Fashion for Good and its corporate partners, as well as access to a global network of partners and like-minded organisations, providing these innovators with the tools they need to grow. Launch Partners Arvind and Welspun will provide support for these innovators in the form of local and manufacturing expertise and the possibility to partner on pilot projects to test the viability of their innovations in real-world, manufacturing processes. In addition to the selection of the innovators, several keynote speakers from across the industry were invited to share their insights and guidance during the launch of the Innovation Programme. Nicole Rycroft, founder and executive director of global sustainable sourcing organisation Canopy provided her perspectives on impact. Bob Assenberg, director of Good Fashion Fund, which was initiated by Fashion for Good to drive the financing of innovative, industry solutions in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam, addressed the audience on the topic of investment.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Adidas says it wants more than half of the polyester it uses to be recycled in 2020, ramping up to 100% by 2024. In 2019, Adidas expected 46% of polyester used in its clothing to be recycled, compared with just 28% for its shoes. Adidas will launch new fabrics made from recycled polyester and marine plastic waste and expand the product lines that use them after the success of shoes made with the Parley for the Oceans initiative, the sportswear firm said on Tuesday. Adidas first teamed up with Parley in 2015 and gradually ramped up production of shoes using plastic collected on beaches and coastal regions to make more than 11 million pairs in 2019, still only a fraction of a group total of more than 400 million. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity that promotes shifting the economy to a circular model that eliminates waste, says less than 1% of material used for clothing is recycled, a loss of more than $100 billion worth of materials each year. Adidas will continue to make Parley-branded shoes and clothes out of ocean plastic in 2020 and will also launch “Primeblue” fabric containing Parley marine waste that it will use in existing lines like its popular Ultraboost shoes. In total, the German firm will produce 15-20 million pairs of shoes using ocean plastic in 2020. Recycled polyester costs about 10% more than the virgin material, but Adidas ultimately wants to get the price down so more consumers can afford to choose sustainable products. “It is a matter of time, it is a matter of scale, of volume and we are trying to lead that charge,” James Carnes, Adidas vice president of brand strategy, told Reuters. Adidas says it wants more than half of the polyester it uses to be recycled in 2020, ramping up to 100% by 2024. In 2019, Adidas expected 46% of polyester used in its clothing to be recycled, compared with just 28% for its shoes. Criticism has been mounting of the environmental impact of the fashion industry, which is responsible for about 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to charity Oxfam. “Increasing the presence of recycled polyester fibre has the potential to massively impact global energy and resource requirements,” said Barclays analyst Anushka Challawala. “Sportswear is leading a lot of the change.” Market leader Nike uses recycled polyester yarn for the uppers of its popular Flyknit shoes, saying that has helped it divert more than 4 billion plastic bottles from landfills. In addition to the ocean plastic initiative, Adidas will start labelling products made from 100% recycled polyester from other sources as “Primegreen” later in the year. In an announcement timed ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, Adidas said it would also move to make more uniforms out of sustainable fabrics with U.S. sports partners like Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League.
Source: Reuters
