Highlighting the crisis faced by the industry, Raja M Shanmugham, President, The Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA) has urged NirmalaSitharaman, Union Minister of Finance to announce Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 for garment sector.

Addressing the increase in policy repo rate by 50 bps to 4.90 per cent, Shanmugham said the central bank has taken the decision mainly to ensure the inflation remains within the target, while supporting growth.

However expressing apprehension he said that the increase of interest rates by banks will further impact the sustenance of MSMEs in Tiruppur Cluster.

He also emphasized on the protection of lakhs of jobs associated with MSMEs, out of which 65 per cent are women workers hailing from rural areas.

TEA has sought an immediate intervention to address the liquidity crisis issue and bring back the Value Added Tirupur Knitwear Garment Sector into a normal business mode, gain confidence and sustain in the business.