There is no plan to ban the export of cotton as there is surplus availability in the domestic market, the Union Minister for Textiles, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, has said.
He said the Ministry was also trying to improve the Textile Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUF) and get additional funds released.
Speaking to newsmen at Perianaickenpalayam, near here, where he had come to launch the latest ring frame at the Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd (LMW) unit, he said “the Government has no idea to ban export of cotton”. The domestic production of cotton was expected to be about 295 lakh bales and there was carry forward stock of more than 40 lakh bales. The demand for domestic use was only about 250 lakh bales and the surplus cotton has to be exported.
He said “at this moment, there is no need to take any knee jerk reaction' and government has ‘no intention to ban export of cotton.” While there was a booking of about 40 lakh bales (for export), only 7-8 lakh bales have actually been exported because of speculation that the Government was going to ban export of cotton but the Government is not going to do so. Mr Maran said the Ministry has asked for additional allocation of Rs 1,600 crore under TUF scheme as it has to meet its commitments under the scheme. Apart from continuing with it, the Ministry would like to bring improvements in the TUF scheme so as to “facilitate more investment” in the sector. He said at present, the export of textile goods from Tamil Nadu was around Rs 15,000-20,000 crore a year. In the next five years, the goal was to double it towards which the Central and State governments would work.
The National Textile Corporation would establish a unit for the manufacture of technical textiles in Coimbatore. The NTC mills were in the process of selling assets to raise funds and once this was completed, a detailed investment plan would be prepared.
Source : Business Line