In a strategy paper aimed at improving the country's export performance, the ministry has also underlined the need for meeting the credit needs of textile mills at reduced rates of interest. The threshold limit under the scheme has already been reduced to Rs 1 crore in the case of ready-made garments following changes in the export-import policy (1997-2002) notified by the commerce ministry on April 13, 1998.

The paper notes that textile exports showed a decline of seven per cent during April-November 1998. While ready-made garments maintained positive growth rates, exports of cotton yarn, fabrics etc came down by 22 per cent during this period.Since 1993-94, textile exports have recorded growth ratesvarying from 34 per cent in 1994-95 to 2.4 per cent in 1997-98. In the case of garments, apart from the quota problem, there appears to be a need for enlarging the production base to cater to overseas markets where supply volume is important.