NEWS CLIPPINGS–09-12-2017

CCI e-paysRs.556 crore to Telangana’s cotton farmers / Buisness Line

The online payment mechanism for cotton farmers introduced by the Telangana government this season has caught on.The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has so far made payments ofRs.556 crore via this route for the produce it purchased from farmers in the State.The State’s Agriculture Marketing Department has introduced a software at the collection centres and asked farmers to register their names and provide bank account and identification details.
“We have introduced the software this year. We have witnessed purchases worthRs.556 crore by the CCI,” a statement from the Department said on Thursday.As many as 44 marketyards in the State were brought under the e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) umbrella, which would help farmers find better price for their produce, it said.The State government is expecting a total turnover ofRs.30,000 crore through transactions between traders and commission agents this year.
Vizag a potential zone for medical textiles: official / The Hindu

‘AP MedTech Zone will attract many units in this segment’
Handlooms and Textiles Secretary I. Srinivas Srinaresh on Friday said the State government had identified Visakhapatnam as a potential zone for technical textiles with special emphasis on medical textiles due to warehousing and port facilities.He was speaking at a day-long workshop on investment opportunities in technical textiles in general and medical textiles in particular. The programme was organised by the Department of Handlooms and Textiles in association with AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation.
Medical textiles are textiles used in hygiene, health and private care as well as surgical end use. These are obtainable in woven, knitted and non-woven structure based on the area of application. Medical technical segment includes textile products for hygiene, hospitals, personal care and surgical applications. Products like diapers, sanitary napkins, disposables, contact lenses and artificial implants come under this.Mr. Srinaresh said once medical textiles were promoted in a big way in Visakhapatnam, it would give scope for investment in ancillary units. He said technical textiles would have multiple applications in defence, agriculture, construction, aviation industry and environmental protection.He said the textile policy of Andhra Pradesh (2015-20) was offering a slew of incentives to investors, adding that establishment of AP MedTech Zone-a medical devices manufacturing park on the suburbs of Visakhapatnam would attract lot of medical textile units.Head of Department, South India Textile Research Association (SITRA)-Coimbatore Ketan Kumar Vadodaria specialised fibre used in technical textiles was eco-friendly and clothes could be made under this to withstand various climatic conditions and temperatures using embedded electronics.
Tax revenues need to stabilise before merger of GST rates: SushilModi / Indian Express

GST Council memberSushil KumarModi Friday said he is in favour of letting the tax revenues stabilise before the panel considers merger or further rationalising of slabs.“Let revenue stabilise and tax buoyancy come, then the Council will look into rationalising or merging tax slabs of 12 and 18 per cent,” Modi, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, said in his address to Bharat Chamber of Commerce members here. He said after the Council’s previous meeting at Guwahati last month, 90 per cent of the tax slab-related issues have been resolved and the rest too will be sorted soon.
He said only 50 items remained in the top 28 per cent tax slab now. However, he remained bullish that revenue for both the Centre and states will grow and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will stabilise.He acknowledged that most of the problems are being faced now by the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and the textiles sector as they were exempted from paying taxes in the past under the value-added tax (VAT) regime. Once the system stabilises, the Council will look into bringing petroleum products, electricity duty and property stamp duty into the GST fold, he said.
Speaking about GST return filing, he said despite teething problems, the GST Network issues are reducing.“Network issues are reducing. 13 lakh returns are being filed and in one hour, the network is capable of handling one lakh returns,” he said.He urged the industry to pass the benefits of tax reduction and also said the anti-profiteering committee has already been formed. Bharat Chamber President Sitaram Sharma said there are still a lot of network and credit-related issues that need to be sorted out.
Separating garments from textile / Buisnessn Recorder

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There has been strong contention between the value-added segment of ready-made garments and their suppliers lower down the value chain. The weaving and spinning sectors have been able to have policies that benefit the mostly large scale manufacturing units (LMUs), much to the detriment of small and medium enterprises operating in the garments industry.
Most of the garment sector players BR Research have spoken to have called for separating garments and textiles since the issues faced by both are different. This was also confirmed at the policy talk held by the Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR) on spurring growth in garments manufacturing.According to Sajid Saleem, CEO of Delta Garments Limited, there is a dearth of quality fabric in the local market where the weaving and spinning sectors have been only been able to supply cotton based fabric. At the same time global preferences have shifted towards garments made of man-made fibre apparel.Talking about the innovations achieved globally in fabric production, Sajid highlighted the intensely competitive global garments industry where cotton products fetch paltry margins. The preference has shifted towards synthetic apparel globally. Currently, oil-based synthetic fibers have the lion’s share of 60 Percent of the world fibre market whereas cotton’s share is about 25 percent.
Taking the US as an example the share of manmade fibres as a percentage of US apparel imports increased from 36 percent in 2006 to 54 percent in 2016. Companies like Adidas are using fourth-generation fabrics using innovative digital weaving processes. These allow garments with enhanced strength and stretchiness to be manufactured.However, in Pakistan garment manufacturers have had limited options due to the dominance of cotton-based fabrics. The majority of participants including economists, industry stakeholders and academics advocated the need to ease imports of synthetic fibers so that garment manufacturing can become internationally competitive.’
Being responsible for the end consumer product, readymade-garments manufacturers have the onus of keeping in touch with global fashion preferences. In order to claim being the choice supplier of international brands, they can only vie for market share if they can produce garments according to the ever-evolving world of haute couture.Sajid emphasised the time bound nature of the garment industry where new choice of fabrics and trends necessitates a reliable means of procuring man-mad fibers.However, most manufacturers have complained to this column of the difficult procedures and time delays that still continue to cripple moving to global standard readymade garments. Given the highest value addition segment, the government would do well to facilitate garment exporters.
Indian denim producers plea for increased govt support / Fibre 2 Fashion

Denim manufacturers in India, led by the New Delhi based Denim Manufacturers Association (DMA), have requested the Central government to immediately announce increased support in the form of some enhancement in present duty drawback rates and extending some more benefits under various schemes such as ROSL, MEIS, Focus Product, Focus Market, etc.The denim fabric manufacturing industry, which used to be the sunrise industry in the entiretextilevalue chain of India, is currently under stress and government support is needed for the industry to come out of this situation and be able to tap the potential of export market, DMA said in a press release.
At present, there are 46 denim fabric manufacturing mills operating in India, compared to 30 mills in 2012. The installed denim fabric production capacity has also increased from 800 million metres in 2012 to 1,500 million metres in 2017, making it the world’s second largest denim fabric producer, next only to China. Further, another 150 million metres of fabric production capacity expansion is in the pipeline.As against the capacity of 1,500 million metres, the current domestic consumption is approximately 750-800 million metres, and export is 200 million metres. Thus, the industry is facing over capacity situation.
“Post introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 this year, the denim industry has temporarily closed down approx. 30-40 per cent of its capacity across the board and is currently operating at approx.. 60-70 per cent capacity due to slowdown in demand and over capacity situation in the industry,” said DMA chairman Sharad Jaipuria. “Presently, the industry is bleeding and if the situation continues, there can be more production cuts.”
Besides over capacity, the denim fabric making industry has also been paralysed because denim needs to be cut, sewn and washed before it can be marketed. These upstream activities are majorly done in the unorganised sectors located at the small-scale industry (SSI) hubs of Gandhi Nagar and Tank Road in Delhi, Ulhasnagar in Mumbai and Bellary near Bangalore. “These hubs mainly slowed down due to the liquidity crunch in the economy post demonetisation and slow acceptance of GST by small players to become part of the formal economy. As approx. 85 per cent of the fabric is sold in the domestic market, denim fabric mills are badly hit,” explained Akhilesh Rathi, director of Bhaskar Denim.
“Since the upstream activities of garment sewing and washing in SSI hubs will take a while before they change for working smoothly with the formal banking system, we do not foresee any short-term recovery of market in the near future. This has led to shutdown / slowdown of many denim mills and loss of jobs in this industry,” said Amit Dalmia of R&B Denims.The negative impact of oversupply situation, coupled with low demand and liquidity crunch in the domestic market, has started becoming visible on the sales and profit volume of top denim mills in India in Q2 FY17-18 and similar impact looks to continue in Q3 as well, said Arpit Jain, VP-research at Arihant Capital & Brokerage.“Considering the grave situation for denim industry, the government needs to announce some enhancement in present duty drawback rates and also extend some more benefits under ROSL scheme, MEIS scheme, Focus Product and Focus Market scheme so that denim mills can competitively tap the potential of export market and try to shift from the stress of domestic market,” said Ashima director Atul Singh.
Farmers want new tech to beat bollworm, but refuse to listen to scientists / Times of India

While Yavatmal farmers are claiming that pink bollworm attack has destroyed 50-90% cotton crop this year due to resistance developed by the worm against Bt (BG-II) cotton, which is a failure of the technology, they are also demanding supply of the improved Bt technology (BG-RRFLex).This confusion was apparent among farmers at a one-day seminar organized by Baliram Chetana Abhiyan, and the State Agriculture Department, on Thursday at Yavatmal. Everyone wanted a solution against the pink boll worm in the next season. But not all of them went back satisfied.
The seminar convened by Kishor Tiwari, president of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission (VNSS), was attended by farmers, agriculture department officials, scientists from Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), and teachers of Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV). There were aggressive presentations from all sides, with some Shetkari Sangathana farmers vociferously demanding approval of GM technology.
Manish Jadhav, a recipient of state government award for agriculture, said the state government should make the future Bt technology legal. He was supported by Vijay Niwal, another member of the organization. Ramkrishna Patil Wanjarikar, a progressive farmer, too claimed that technology was the need of the hour. However, Lankeshwar Jadhav, a farmer who had reaped Bt cotton for years together, said he had no views on what was right for farmers now. He called upon scientists to solve his problem.
However, some farmers expressed their anger with CICR for not making its investigation report into pesticide deaths public. Some of the farmers even refused to listen to CICR and PDKV scientists. They blamed them for the failure of Bt cotton technology, and the attack of the pink bollworm.Vishlesh Nagrare, CICR scientist, explained that if farmers followed the entire regime of use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers as per the protocol, they would not have suffered the loss. He suggested that pesticide use should be the last resort in crop protection. There were ways and methods to protect the cotton crop with preventive measures.
PH Rathod from PDKV went on to list the regime of practices for crop protection. He advised against early monsoon sowing varieties, and called for cultivating early maturing varieties. He also suggested that farmers should terminate cotton by December end or early January, to break the cycle of the pink bollworm so that the attack could be prevented next year. An entrepreneur, Hari Vijay Rathod, demonstrated the use of pheromone traps and light traps as natural control measures for tackling bollworm attack.Prashant Nimade from PDKV, zilla parishad vice president Shyam Jaiswal, and president of agriculture committee of ZP Amrutrao Deshmukh, a progressive farmer, were among those present.