India's Cotton Textile Exports Fell in FY17

The overall export of cotton textiles from India declined in 2016-17 compared to the previous two fiscals, minister of state for textiles Ajay Tamta said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. He said the government has taken steps to revive exports of cotton textiles, which include cotton yarn, cotton fabric, cotton madeups and cotton raw waste.

According to data shared by the minister, the shipments of cotton textiles from India stood at Rs 70,936 crore during 2016-17, as against Rs 72,994 crore in the previous financial year and Rs 71,913 crore in 2014-15.

The steps taken by the government to boost the export of textiles, including cotton commodities, include announcement of a special Textile Package for garments and made-ups sector; MEIS scheme under new Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20; Restoring interest rate subvention for pre and post shipment credit for the textile sector; increased duty drawback rates for some textile articles; Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme; Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme; and duty-free import of trimmings, embellishments and other specified item under Export Performance Certificate Entitlement scheme.

Informing about the present export policy, Tamta said that both the export of cotton and cotton yarn at present are under Open General License. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, ministry of commerce and industry being the facilitator for the import and export of cotton and cotton yarn has dispensed with the registration requirement for export of cotton as well as cotton yarn.