India is taking steps to protect its man-made fibre (MMF) industry by enforcing the Quality Control Order (QCO) on MMF products such as polyester staple fibre (PSF) and upstream raw materials like purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and mono ethylene glycol (MEG) to curb the influx of cheap and non-essential imports. Indian Minister of Textiles Piyush Goyal announced this in the first meeting of the newly constituted Textile Advisory Group on MMF.
During the meeting held in New Delhi recently, industry representatives raised the issue of a surge in cheap imports of PTA and MEG into India. Goyal emphasised the need for different segments of the textile value chain to support each other’s requirements and challenges for the holistic growth of the sector.
Rachna Shah, Secretary (Textiles) initiated the deliberations with the Textile Advisory Group which constituted industry associations and councils including AEPC, SRTEPC, ASFI, AMFII, CPMA and SIMA to represent the entire MMF value chain along with senior officials from the ministries of textiles, commerce, and petroleum and natural gas.
Association of Man-Made fibre industry of India (AMFIl) and Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry (ASFI) presented the overview of the sector and major challenges such as the high degree of fragmentation in the downstream textile value chain from weaving to garmenting and need of protective measures to contain rising imports MMF raw materials (PTA and MEG) and MMF yarn and fabric (PFY, PSF, NFY). The high levels of unutilised production capacities of man-made fibre due to imports were also discussed. The stakeholders suggested various possible solutions to strengthen and revamp the MMF value chain during the meeting.
Goyal cited the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for MMF apparel, MMF fabrics and products of technical textiles, as the government’s flagship intervention to augment the size and scale of the domestic MMF sector. He also assured dedicated handholding support to the PLI beneficiaries through specially designated officers from the ministry of textiles for the purpose.
Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), on behalf of spinners, raised the issue of revising standard input-output norms under the Advance Authorization Scheme. The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), on behalf of fabric and made-ups, raised the issue of shortage of capacities for quality processing and effluent treatment facilities, while Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) raised the issue of shortage of availability of high-quality processed fabric.
The industry stakeholders acknowledged the need for collaborative efforts to address the issues of the MMF industry and pledged to support and handhold each other to fast-track the growth of the Indian MMF sector.
