New Delhi, Oct 5: Textiles minister Kanshiram Rana has said policies and procedures for import and export of textiles were being simplified to make them more liberal, transparent and responsive to the needs of the industry."With the dismantling of quotas from the year 2005 new opportunities would be available to the industry to enhance their exports worldwide... our efforts to improve the conditions of trade in favour of export of domestic industrial products are on," Rana said at the awards function of the Wool and Woollen Export Promotion Council on Thursday.
Rana said at a time when the global woollen industry was being hit by recession, India had registered an increase in woollen exports of two per cent during 1999-2000.
While the woollen industry has the advantage of responding quickly to demand, the industry needs to modernise to remain competitive in the post multi-fibre agreement (MFA) scenario.
Emphasising the need to upgrade technology, Rana urged wool research associations to laay greater emphasis on wool processing and machinery development.
"The response of the woollen industry to the Technology Upgradation Fund has so far not been very enthusiastic," the textiles minister said and urged the industry players to take advantage of the scheme.
Textiles secretary Anil Kumar said the textiles ministry was holding discussions with the commerce ministry to allow import of second-hand textile looms as part of the government's effort to increase the number of looms from the present level of 10,000 to over 50,000 within the next five years.
Kumar said the level of textile exports was likely treble from the present level of US $12 billion to $35 billion within the next five years.
The industry had also set a target to achieve exports worth US $50 billion within this decade, he said. He pointed out that the government would support an export-led growth policy for the textile sector.
Chariman of the Wool and Woollens Export Promotion Council Ashok Jaidka said that woollen exports had registered a growth of seven per cent in dollar terms during 1999-2000 over the previous year.
During the first five months of the current fiscal, the Council had achieved exports worth US $109 million against the target of US $315 million fixed by the government.
Among the companies which received awards for exemplary performance in exports during 1998-2000 included Reliance Industries Ltd, Birla VXL Ltd, Raymond Ltd and Indian Rayon and Industries Ltd.
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