Textile Minister tries to justify the budget bounties given to Industry

Textile Ministry has appreciated Mr. Finance Minister's effort to allocate funds under the TUFS (Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme) from 535 crs in 2006-07 to 911 crs in 2007-08.

He also mentioned that Chidu (our beloved FM), has reduced the custom duty on man made fibre and reduced CST to 3 %.

Again, the real issues are not being tackled. The largest textile industry in India operate at 10 % of the capacity of the bigger Chinese textile companies. It requires large funds to create such capacities. The real issues plaguing the industries which requires more attention from textile ministry are :

1) Amendment to the Labour Act which requires lots of regulatory activities to be carried out by the textile company.

2) The above Labour Act requires that the a company with a set number of employees would not be able to hire and fire the employees where required.

3) Reduction in custom duty to import efficient and better machineries.

4) Protection to the company in case of labour unrest.

5) Amendment to the Factories Act which restricts the company to expand in a big way.