The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has sought a ‘Special Textile Package’ for the textile industry to face the current economic crisis, Business Standard reports.

FICCI has highlighted the fact that profitability of the Indian textile industry fell by over 99% in the June 2008 quarter and investment in the current year (for April-July) has been less than one third of last year for the same period. Under a ‘Special Textiles Package’ FICCI has demanded, among other things, a moratorium for one year on term loans for textile industry. The industry body has also demanded increased drawback rates along with export credit at international rates.

In addition, FICCI has also sought extension of a sunset clause for export oriented units (EOUs) for 5 years. Release of pending funds from last year’s Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme (TUFS) is also in the list of demands along with reduction of excise duty on manmade fibres.

Emphasing the employee intrinsic nature of the industry, FICCI has emphasised that unless these measures are implemented swiftly to bail-out the Indian textiles industry, these is a risk of large scale lay-offs in the industry.

FICCI further noted that the growth of textiles industry has come down from 8% in 2005-2006 to 0.8% in April-August 2008-2009.

Source: www.business-standard.com