Tirupur Exporters? Association (TEA), the R15,000-crore and the largest knitwear/garment manufactuers’ association in India, has urged chief minister J Jayalalithaa to set up a state export promotion board, formulate a state export policy and undertake measures to set up solar power plants among a host of things.
In a pre-Budget memorandum to the chief minister, TEA president A Sakthivel said in line with the foreign trade policy of the Union government, the state should have a separate policy to help exporters.
To formulate the policy, TEA has suggested Tamil Nadu State Export Promotion Board to have a focused approach for exports. The said board may function under the chief minister, wherein the chief secretary, secretaries of industry, finance and president/chairman of leading trade associations actively involved in exports as members and meet once a quarter to monitor the export trend.
As envisaged in the Solar Energy Policy 2012, which targets to generate 3,000 MW power in three years, the exporting units have already been taking steps to set up solar power plants. As the cost of establishment is on higher side, TEA is seeking exemption from land registration fee for setting up the solar park, as well as exemption from wheeling charges on installing grid substation and transmission lines for transmitting power from the solar park, he said.
According to him, one of the critical areas for sustaining high growth rate is infrastructure. It may be noted that power, roads, ports remain major constraints, particularly with the projected growth of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, removal of infrastructure bottlenecks is imperative for sustaining high rates of overall economic growth.
Tirupur garment exporters install latest state-of-the-art-technology machinery with computers, which need a continuous supply of quality power. Any fluctuations in power would not only affect the performance of the machinery but also affect the quality of garments produced. In addition to these, labour productivity will also get affected. Consistent power quality round the clock without any interruption is very much essential for the knitwear sector, which is currently exporting about R15,000 crore. Therefore, a separate dedicated power station should be installed in Tirupur for the benefit of knitwear sector, he said.