Pakistan’s textile policy for 2014-19 has failed to achieve its targets. The main reasons are: a financial crunch for different schemes under the policy and non-availability of energy at competitive prices.

Exports of textile products were expected to increase beyond 10 per cent. Instead exports further declined during this period. One main export impediment is the levy of customs duty on import of cotton. During the policy implementation period, the energy cost was made almost double and resultantly several mills were closed, rendering thousands of people jobless.

The textile policy aimed at doubling value addition in five years, doubling textile exports in five years, facilitating additional investment in machinery and technology, improving the fiber mix in favor of non-cotton, improving the product mix especially in the garment sector, strengthening existing textile firms and establishing new ones, making the textile sector domestically and internationally compliant, especially with respect to labor and environment rules and conventions, encouraging textile units to use modern management practices for improving efficiency and reducing waste.

The policy aimed at systematically developing and strengthening clusters, training workers for capacity building, offering internships and programs for enhancement of skills and adopting measures to increase the ease of doing business and reduce the cost of doing business.