INTERNATIONAL
Surat’s machine embroidery is now spreading its reach to Jammu and Kashmir also, as the process for the first ever embroidery park in Srinagar has already started.
Known for its traditional crafts-based textile products, Jammu & Kashmir, one of the most beautiful places in India, will now have production with state-of-the-art embroidery machines. At the same time, its core strengths of crafts like hand embroidery will also be preserved.
Surat-based textile entrepreneur Subash Dawar, who is also the Chairman of Alliance Group, has initiated the concept of embroidery park in Kashmir and finalised more than 5-acre land at Gulmarg Road (near famous Dal lake) in Srinagar.
To involve more local firms, he has partnered with local entrepreneur Hussain Mohammad.
The plan is to train local workers to operate various embroidery multi-head machines and techniques like coding, sequence, etc. For that, few workshops will be organised. Along with machine embroidery, hand embroidery will also continue in the products.
As most of the local people don’t have proper industrial setup for production, organised embroidery park will help them to scale up their production and work in an organised way.
With the use of machine embroidery and local designs, the products of this region like shawl, poncho, tunics will be more affordable for customers and will have more demand in the market.
At the same time, products will be ready in less time. It will be a win-win situation for local textile firms. It is pertinent to mention here that these products do have good demand in export market also.
SOURCE: Apparel Resources
Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami recently requested the central government to help the state set up four industrial parks, which include two mega textile parks in Dharmapuri and Virudhunagar.
Palaniswami wrote to home minister Amit Shah in this regard last week. Tamil Nadu, being a leading player in the textiles sector, is willing to take up the central government’s offer to set up industrial parks in partnership with other state governments, a top English-language daily from South India reported citing the letter.
Meanwhile, Telangana information technology Industries minister KT Rama Rao told a conference that there is a major potential of attracting investments in electronics, food processing, textiles and logistics sectors over the next ten years.
He was addressing participants of at the Brand Hyderabad conference organised by the Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA).
Source: Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
As coronavirus cases are increasing in India and few states are taking stricter actions like imposing night curfew and closing select markets (those that are very sensitive), migratory workers are again getting worried.
In Gujarat, night curfew has been imposed in few selected cities. Workers of textile and apparel-based cities of the state like Surat, Vapi, Ahmedabad and Valsad have started going back to their hometowns.
As per media reports, thousands of workers are going back without even waiting for railway reservation, with many preferring to go by private buses and other means of transport.
Majority of these workers belongs to textile industry. Though majority of units are not utilising their full capacities, if more workers go back to their home states, they may face labour shortage again.
It is pertinent to mention here that after the first phase of lockdown, around 60 per cent workers went back to their home states though majority of them came back to the above-mentioned cities.
SOURCE: Apparel Resources
A day before the release of the second-quarter growth numbers, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the economy had exhibited a stronger-than-expected pick-up in momentum of recovery, but warned that the recent surge in Covid-19 infections in advanced economies and parts of India continued to pose a potent risk to growth.
The RBI is scheduled to announce its monetary policy next week where it is expected to give its outlook on growth. Analysts don’t expect further rate cuts by the central bank, especially as the past cuts have not been fully transmitted yet, and the economic recovery makes such a move redundant for now.
Speaking at the fourth annual meeting of the Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI), Das said, “After witnessing a sharp contraction in GDP (gross domestic product) by 23.9 per cent in the first quarter and a multi-speed normalisation of activity in Q2, the Indian economy has exhibited a stronger-than-expected pick-up in momentum of recovery.”
This, coupled with the rebound in global economic activities in the third quarter, had prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revise its assessment for global growth in 2020 “to a less severe contraction than what was assessed in June 2020”, he added.
However, Das said it was important to maintain demand in the economy. “We need to be watchful about the sustainability of demand after festivals and a possible reassessment of market expectations surrounding the vaccine,” the governor said, adding the monetary policy guidance in October emphasised the need to see through temporary inflation pressures and also maintain the accommodative stance at least during the current financial year and into the next financial year.
According to Das, the comfortable external balance position of India supported by surplus current account balances over the two consecutive quarters, the resumption of portfolio capital inflows on the back of robust FDI inflows, and a sustained build-up of foreign exchange reserves have been key sources of resilience in recent months.
“The government’s recent policy focus to enhance India’s participation in global value chains, including through production-linked incentives for targeted sectors, can leverage on the strong external balance position of India,” he said.
Capital account convertibility, he said, would be a continued process, rather than an event, even as the country had progressed quite considerably in its quest towards full convertibility and internationalisation of its financial markets.
“Over the last three decades, India has undergone a transformation from being a virtually closed economy to one that is globally connected and open to a much larger volume of international transactions and capital flows than before. Today, the capital account is convertible to a great extent,” Das said in his keynote address. “Capital account convertibility will continue to be approached as a process rather than an event, taking cognizance of prevalent macroeconomic conditions. A long-term vision with short and medium-term goals is the way ahead.”
In India, inward foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in most sectors and outbound FDI by Indian incorporated entities is allowed as a multiple of their net worth. The external commercial borrowing framework has been significantly liberalised to include more eligible borrowers, even as maturity requirements have been reduced and end-use restrictions relaxed, Das said.
The governor also asked the FEDAI to ensure that retail users in need of foreign exchange be helped in accessing the forex retail platform introduced by the central bank. He called for a concerted effort by all banks to promote the platform for passing on the benefits of transparent and competitive pricing.
“The simplification and flexibility provided in the regulations must reach the end-user. In designing new products and new market segments, risk management systems and responsible market conduct should evolve in tandem as we open up to global players,” he told the representatives of the banks.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
Income tax, customs, excise, pharma, labour acts are also being reviewed. Certain ministries feel that some aspects of criminalisation is necessary for efficient enforcement.
After decriminalising minor offences under the Companies Act, the Narendra Modi government has embarked on reducing the risk of imprisonment for omissions that aren’t necessarily mala fide, under 28 economic and financial sector statutes, including the income tax Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Sebi Act, RBI Act, Banking Regulation Act, SARFAESI Act and the Collection of Statistics Act.
Criminal penalties, including imprisonment for minor offences, are one of the major reasons for subdued business sentiments and are seen to hinder investments both from domestic and foreign investors.
“The Cabinet secretary has instructed all the ministries to go through all Acts under their jurisdiction and identify provisions, which could be potentially decriminalised. As many as 128 provisions across 28 statutes could be considered over the next 2-3 months,” a government official said.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2020 speech mentioned that the government would look into making amendments to the Companies Act, 2013 and other laws where certain provisions impose criminal penalties on acts that are essentially civil in nature. In this context, NITI Aayog has undertaken an exercise the with ministries concerned to identify the specific provisions under different Acts where decriminalization can be attempted.
With pendency matters in all tiers of the courts being in excess of 4 crore and the inordinate time taken for disputes to be resolved, and India’s continued challenges in enforcement of contracts, such legislative measures are needed to help restore trust in doing business, officials feel.
In September, Parliament gave its nod to amendments to Companies Act, 2013 to decriminalise certain offences. The amendments omitted punishment with imprisonment in 12 offences and increased monetary penalties in most cases. At least six ministries including finance, pharma, labour and statistics are now either in the process of or have already put out in public domain provisions in certain Acts for stakeholders comments for decriminalising minor offences.
The department of financial services in the finance ministry has undertaken public consultation on criminal provisions under 19 Acts recently including Insurance Act, SARFAESI Act, PFRDA Act, RBI Act, Payment and Settlement Systems Act, NABARD Act, NHB Act, State Financial Corporation Act, Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, Factoring Regulation Act, 2011, Actuaries Act, Banking Regulation Act, General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, LIC Act, Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, Chit Funds Act, DICGC Act, Negotiable Instruments Act and Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Bannning) Act.
It is contemplating doing away with imprisonment provisions for two offences in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Under Section 46 of the Act, violators making a false statement or wilfully omits to make a material statement, attracts imprisonment up to three years. Similarly, Section 58B (1) of the RBI Act, 1934 entails imprisonment up to three years for whoever provides wrong information or statement.
Income tax, customs, excise, pharma, labour acts are also being reviewed. Certain ministries feel that some aspects of criminalisation is necessary for efficient enforcement.
Section 11C Sub-section (6) of Sebi Act entails that If any person fails without reasonable cause or refuses to produce to the Investigating Authority or any person authorised by it in this behalf any book, register, other document and record, can be punished with imprisonment of 1 year and fine. Section 24 of the Act even imposes a harsher jail term of up to 10 years and fine if any person fails to pay the penalty imposed by the adjudicating officer or the Board or fails to comply with any directions or orders.
There are nine proposed amendments to decriminalise offences under Collection of Statistics Act, 2008: Section 16 of this Act provides imprisonment of up to 6 months or Rs 1,000 fine in the case of a person and extendable to Rs 5,000 in case of a company or both for wilfully making any false or misleading statement. The ministry of statistics has proposed a higher monetary penalty (10 times higher) would be a more effective deterrent than imprisonment as it is more easily enforceable.
“The effort is to balance ease of doing business with genuine requirement of stricter punishment. Certain ministries feel that certain aspect of criminalisation is necessary for enforcement,” an official said.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
India’s economy is likely to have shown signs of a pick-up in the quarter to September after a record contraction the previous quarter, and is expected to recover early next year on hopes of better consumer demand fed by progress on coronavirus vaccines.
Economists in a Reuters poll forecast gross domestic product in Asia’s third largest economy to shrink 8.8% in the September quarter, after a contraction of 23.9% in the previous quarter, amounting to a technical recession.
They also predict a contraction of 3% and growth of 0.5% in the December and March quarters respectively, with the economy shrinking 8.7% over the whole financial year for its worst performance in at least four decades.
Economists have marginally raised forecasts this month after a pick-up in consumer demand for autos, non-durables and rail freight during the festival season, as prospects grow for COVID-19 vaccines to be launched early next year.
Effective widespread distribution of vaccine could help speed economic recovery next year, said Shilan Shah, an India economist at Capital Economics in Singapore.
“In particular, monthly data on capital goods production suggests that investment has bounced back more sharply than we had thought likely,” he said in a note this week.
Despite improvement in the growth outlook, however, a recent surge in infections presents downside risks for the economy, said Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
“We need to be watchful about the sustainability of demand after the festivals and a possible reassessment of market expectations surrounding the vaccine,” he said on Thursday.
India’s tally of infections has crossed 9.27 million to stand as the world’s second highest after the United States, with more than 135,000 deaths in the south Asian nation.
As some states re-imposed curbs this week to fight a second wave of infections, businesses feared the restrictions could slow the pace of recovery in the next two or three months, as well as heightening the risk of inflation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party won elections this month in the eastern state of Bihar, expects the recent easing of farm and labour laws, along with tax incentives, to bolster manufacturing and lure more foreign investment.
But critics say the economy, which must grow at more than 8% a year to create jobs for millions of young people entering the workforce, faces a prolonged slowdown, thanks to a delay in resolving a banking crisis and inadequate stimulus measures.
“Even widespread vaccination would not restore India to economic health, as tepid fiscal support and a beleaguered banking sector will weigh on economic growth long after the virus is brought under control,” said Shah.
SOURCE: Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
The Nonwovens Institute (NWI) at the North Carolina State University has received a six-month, approximately US$400,000 grant from The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) to investigate improving the properties of materials they’re using for masks and respirators.
Ultimately, the researchers’ goal is to enhance the materials in order to boost performance and production capacity.
“The idea behind the grant is to improve the performance of the materials we are currently producing,” said Behnam Pourdeyhimi, executive director of NWI, Associate Dean and William A. Klopman Distinguished Professor and the project’s principle investigator.
N95 respirators and surgical masks are generally a sandwich of one or two common nonwoven layers; spunbond layers that provide mask strength and protect the inner filtration layer – and a nonwoven meltblown material that filters microscopic unwanted particles like viruses and bacteria.
Because of the current critical need for masks caused by COVID-19, Pourdeyhimi and his NWI team created a new spunbond material that can serve as a filter without the need for a meltblown filtration layer. The unique fabric is composed of two different polymer materials that are combined to make a single fibre with significant strength and bulk, along with microfibers of a similar size to the normal meltblown filters. The new material has similar effectiveness to current filtration materials.
Since the start of the pandemic, NWI has been producing between 150,000 to 180,000 meters of this unique filter medium per week using its state-of the-art pilot facilities located at NC State’s Centennial Campus at the Center for Technology and Innovation.
To meet the demand for masks that can be worn by the general public, researchers are making single-layer masks out of the spunbond material. One of the objectives of the project funded by NIIMBL is to improve NWI’s spunbond material to meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards for surgical masks for particle filtration and fluid resistance.
“You want a mask that’s not too thick and too warm, and easy to breathe through,” Pourdeyhimi added. “What we want is a single layer that meets FDA requirements, and is not built on the meltblown filtration layer that is in short supply.”
NWI has also developed a new meltblown filtration media in its fight against COVID-19. Pourdeyhimi said his team is working around the clock five days per week to make the meltblown filtration material. NWI produces approximately 120,000 meters per week of the material.
One of the objectives of the NIIMBL grant is to improve the meltblown material that goes into three-layer surgical masks as well as into N95 respirators, which are designed to filter more than 95% of airborne particles at 0.3 microns.
“Part of this grant is focused on reducing the weight of the filters without adversely impacting the performance of the filter – using less fabric would increase the available capacity,” Pourdeyhimi said.
SOURCE: NonwovenNews
Germany plans to borrow 179.82 billion euros ($214.36 billion) next year, nearly double the 96 billion euros initially foreseen, as Berlin extends aid measures to mitigate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Europe’s biggest economy, lawmakers told Reuters on Friday.
Germany’s parliamentary budget committee of lawmakers agreed on the plans in the early hours of Friday after 17 hours of talks.
SOURCE: Reuters
