Industry warns cotton yarn exports may fall further, demands incentives
With cotton yarn export dropping for three years in a row, industry bodies have demanded export incentives and trade policy interventions.They've given a detailed analysis to the commerce and industry ministry, showing the $3.5 billion export segment is shrinking. The segment makes up more than a tenth of India's total textile export and is one of the few segments there in which the country had historically enjoyed an advantage until recently. In 2016-17, the export of cotton yarn fell 7.7 per cent. Apart from trade reasons, the spectre of a five per cent Goods and Services Tax on both yarn and fabric have hit the hitherto untaxed industry hard. A recent report from ratings agency ICRA says the rupee's rise over the past year, with high raw material prices in the past six to nine months, had disadvantaged the industry. Also, with domestic demand not growing, investment into spinning mills have stopped, pushing up manufacturing prices, exporters claim.As a result, industry bodies have13-10-2017