Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin urged the Centre to avert a crisis gripping the powerlooms, apparel and home textile units in Tamil Nadu owing to the 11 per cent import duty on cotton and asked the government to control the rising price of cotton and yarn, and save the industry.
These units may soon become unviable resulting in closure and consequent large-scale unemployment and industrial unrest in the State, he said. “I request you to urgently intervene in this matter to resolve this precarious situation that has widespread ramifications,” the Chief Minister said in a letter to Union Textile Minister Piyush Goyal a copy of which was shared with the media in Chennai.
“The apparel and garment manufacturers in Tamil Nadu have been representing the grim situation of cotton and yarn price volatility and its adverse impact on the price of fabrics and garments,” the Chief Minister said in the letter. He referred to his earlier letter seeking the removal of the 11 per cent import duty on cotton to avoid further speculation in the coming months.
He had also sought revamping the commercial terms and conditions prescribed by the CCI for e-auction of cotton by reducing the minimum lot size to 500 bales which is sustainable for the MSMEs. Yarn manufacturers may be given priority in the procurement of cotton over traders, he had said and added that 5 per cent interest subvention be extended to the spinning mills towards procurement of cotton during peak season (December to March).
As no concrete steps were taken by the Union government to control cotton and yarn prices, the powerloom, garment and hosiery manufacturers of Palladam and Tiruppur have announced a hunger strike on January 21 throughout the State demanding the government to take immediate measures to control the yarn price, he said. The garment manufacturers in Tiruppur had stopped the production process for two days on January 17 and 18 as a token of protest against the prevailing yarn price hike, the Chief Minister added.
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