FW
The National Green Tribunal has allowed the conditional reopening of 578 textile units in Rajasthan's Pali district that had been shut for the last eight months for flouting pollution norms. The Jodhpur bench of the tribunal, comprising Justice Jawad Rahim and member B S Sajwan, permitted the reopening of these industries, engaged in dyeing and printing of cloth, after the unites gave an assurance that they would comply with any direction passed by the tribunal.
NGT also took into account the adverse effect the closure had on the employment and livelihood of workers directly or indirectly dependent on the industries. The prolonged closure had also resulted in surreptitious and illegal dyeing and bleaching activities.
The NGT has further ordered the setting up of a monitoring committee comprising representatives of IIT Jodhpur, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, directing them to submit a report on the next hearing.
Pali Water Pollution Control Treatment and Research Foundation Trust responded to this by stating that the committee will carry out inspections and surprise checks of the industries and Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP). They will ensure disconnection of electricity where the industries do not have any consent to operate or they are not connected with CETP or do not have their own Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP).
Besides this, the tribunal has also directed the constitution of a district-level task force to ensure that no industry functions illegally or in violation of the pollution rules and norms. The task force will also chart out a surveillance mechanism and take punitive measures against defaulting units.
The NGT had ordered these polluting textile industrial units to shut their operations on October 3 last year, while hearing a petition moved by an environmental organisation, the Kissan Paryavaran Sangharsh Samiti.
The untreated effluents of these units have long been polluting a seasonal river of the district, the Bandi river, whose water feeds the Nehda Dam. This has severely affected agriculture in the region and polluted the underground water.
Jharkhand produces roughly 82 per cent of the total silk that is produced in India. Nearly 4.82 lakh women in the state will be brought under the new skill development program. A fund of Rs 700 crores has been provisioned in this year's budget for the skill development program.
A state industries board will be established, which will connect women of 32,000 villages for providing them alternative livelihoods.
Jharkhand wants investors for the textile, apparel and footwear sectors as these have growth potential.
These sectors are the second largest employers in Jharkhand after agriculture. By products of textile, apparel and footwear are used for making cosmetics, biomedical products and fertilizers. These not only fetch revenue but also generate large scale employment.
Jharkhand tussar production increased to 3,238 metric tons in 2016-19 from 143 metric tons in 2007-08. The tussar culture employs 1.80 lakh farmers and 30,000 weavers in the state.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Jharkhand Silk Textile and Handicraft Development Corporation (Jharcraft) and Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Co-operative Society (Co-optex).
Co-optex has over 200 outlets across the country. Jharcraft products will be displayed at Co-optex showrooms across the country. Co-optex will also display its products at Jharcraft outlets.
While Co-optex produces a huge variety of handloom products, it does not produce tussar silk. In this situation, Jharcraft will use the platform to publicize and sell tussar silk produced in Jharkhand.
Indian exports are on upward trend in last few months as the country ended up with export of $275 billion in last fiscal, says GK Gupta, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO). The country could achieve a new milestone of $325 billion in 2017-18 and Gupta has suggested providing additional support to top 200 products of global imports.
The FIEO president also shared concerns regarding some important issues. He stated that the export sector welcomes the introduction of GST as its spin off effect would benefit both the manufacturing and export sector. The logistics cost is expected to come down to help the exim sector. The quick refund, as against delayed refund of VAT, will also help the export sector.
The company is worried with the liquidity issue as the refund mechanism would require payment of GST first and its refund subsequently. The additional cost of credit to manage the liquidity should be borne by the government, if present exemption is not brought forward in the GST. Export sector would be losing export competitiveness by about 2 per cent and the same needs to be off-set to the export sector,says Gupta.
FIEO, is request the government to provide interest on delayed refund after 10 days (3 days + 7 days) instead of 60 days, added Gupta. FIEO has requested the ministry of commerce to prepone the announcement so as to coincide with the rolling out of GST.
The Mid-Term Policy Review should look at the performance of the new instruments introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 and also the modifications which are required in the wake of introduction of GST. On this the FIEO presidentstated that they request the Government to sensitize the trade and industry that the imports duty benefit on imports under the existing instruments would only continue till the date of introduction of GST.
FIEO acknowledge the positive role played by Rupee appreciation in Indian economy particularly, as it helps in containing import led inflation. However, it does affect competitiveness of Indian exports. The impact of Rupee appreciation varies from sector to sector. Traditional sectors of exports like handicrafts, carpets, handlooms, textiles, leather, etc. face huge competitiveness issue on account of such appreciation.
During the current sowing season, Pakistan cotton cultivation witnessed a 18 per cent increase across the crop growing areas as compared to the sowing during the corresponding period of the last year.
Overall, the cotton crop has been cultivated over 59 per cent area of the total targeted areas set for the current sowing season.
So far cotton crop has been cultivated over 1.54 million hectares of land in Punjab whereas the Sindh province had put around 0.299 million hectares of land under cotton crop cultivation.
Cotton has been cultivated over 1.84 million hectares across the crop growing areas of the country as against the set target of 3.11 million hectares.
Due to favorable weather conditions, the availability of certified seeds and other crop inputs, it is expected that the targeted areas for the current sowing season would be achieved.
Agriculture experts from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were provided three months’ training in order to bring the potential areas under cotton production to enhance the local crop output. The Federal Committee on Cotton had fixed cotton production targets at 14 million bales during the current crop sowing season.
Punjab had achieved 63.5 per cent crop sowing targets set for the current season whereas Sindh was able to achieve 46 per cent area of the total cultivable land.
The garment manufacturing industry in Cambodia has become the fifth largest apparel supplier to the European Union behind China, Bangladesh, Turkey and India.
Cambodia’s garment exports to the EU grew by 14 per cent in 2016. In comparison Vietnam’s garment exports to the EU grew by 6.8 per cent. Europe today takes up 43 per cent of the Cambodian sector’s exports as opposed to 29 per cent taken by the US market.
However there are some threats. Cambodia’s push into the EU market is largely because of the preferential treatment under the Everything But Arms Agreement, which allows its garment products to enter the EU market duty-free; this preference is expected to end as Cambodia graduates out of Least Developed Country status. Another threat is the implementation of the FTA between the EU and Vietnam, which is set to come into force by the end of 2017. With Vietnam set to take full advantage of the falling tariffs, Cambodia should find ways to stay competitive.
Cambodia’s real growth is projected to remain strong, expanding at 6.9 per cent in 2017 and 2018.
Improving labor productivity would be fundamental for Cambodia to remain competitive, given rising competition from other low-wage garment exporting countries.
Two companies including fashion chain Benetton India have sought approval of the government for single brand retail trading in India. Benetton India have sought approval to undertake e-commerce and retail trading of imported goods, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
Currently, FDI up to 49 per cent is permitted under the automatic route but beyond that limit, government's nod is required. Foreign investment is allowed subject to certain conditions, which require products to be of a 'single brand' only and to be sold under the same brand globally.
Furthermore, in respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51 per cent, it is mandatory to source 30 per cent of the value of goods purchased from India, preferably MSMEs. To attract more FDI in the sector, the government is considering allowing 100 per cent foreign investment through automatic route in single brand retail to attract a larger number of global players in the sector.
PVH will design and distribute menswear for the DKNY brand in the US and Canada.
The license agreement includes DKNY Sport for Men, a new category for the brand. In addition, PVH has licensed rights for men’s sportswear, dress shirts, neckwear and jeans.
DKNY is one of the world’s leading fashion brands. The first collections will launch in spring 2018 and will be sold in department stores. Philips Van Heusen owns, designs, sources and markets a selection of world-renowned brands in the dress shirts, sportswear, neckwear, footwear, and accessories categories.
The acquisition will enable PVH to participate in the fast growing online channel and provides a platform to increase innovation, data driven-decisions and speed in the way it serves its consumers across channels.
PVH leverages a diversified portfolio of brands — including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, Izod, Arrow, Speedo, Warner's and Olga, as well as numerous other owned and licensed brands — and markets them globally.
With a history going back over 135 years, PVH has excelled at growing brands and businesses.
DKNY is run by the G-III Apparel Group. A quest for the perfect pair of jeans led Donna Karan to launch her eponymous label's sister line, DKNY, in 1989. It has now grown into a trusted lifestyle brand, including ready-to-wear, active wear, lingerie, children’s wear and accessories.
US cotton output this year is forecast at nearly 12 per cent above the final 2016 estimate.Area for both upland and extra-long staple cotton is forecast to expand in 2017. For the upcoming season, upland acreage is projected higher in each of the cotton belt regions.
The southwest upland area is estimated at 7.4 million acres, above last year’s six million acres. The southwest is forecast to account for 62 per cent of the upland area in 2017. Cotton acreage in the southeast is expected to approach 2.5 million acres in 2017, nearly 14 per cent above last season.
In the delta, 2017 cotton area is forecast to increase for the second consecutive season to 1.8 million acres. The delta is expected to account for 15 per cent of the US upland acreage in 2017. In the west, improved irrigation supplies for the 2017 spring-planted crops—in addition to favorable prices—are expected to boost cotton area there.
US cotton harvested area for 2017 is projected at nearly 11.4 million acres, 20 per cent above the 2016 estimate of 9.5 million acres. The national yield is projected at 810 pounds per harvested acre and is based on the 2012-16 crop average yields, weighted by region.
At least 7, 50,000 jobs were created in the Indian textile and garment sector in the last fiscal. This was made possible by a Rs 6,000 crores package in June 2016 along with some radical changes to labor laws.
As many as 3, 26,471 direct and 4, 24,412 indirect jobs were created in the sector in the last fiscal. Investments to the tune of Rs 8,544 crores flowed into the sector into various segments such as weaving, garmenting, processing technical textiles and composites.
It’s estimated that every Rs1 crore of investment creates as many as 70 direct jobs in the labor-intensive garment segment and 30 direct jobs in the spinning segment. Similarly, every 10 direct jobs created in the textile and garment sector leads to the generation of 13 indirect jobs such as in hand embroidery, lacework, handwork, specialised dyeing and washing and logistics.
Between July 2016 and March 2017 garment exports went up almost nine per cent. By contrast, overall textile and garment exports dropped 3.5 per cent in the last fiscal, mainly due to a decline in outbound shipments of textiles.
To boost the competitiveness of the garment sector, a raft of measures was announced, including the introduction of fixed-term employment, optional contribution to the EPF by workers earning less than Rs15,000 a month, refund of employers’ contribution of the EPF, additional incentives under the A-TUFS, enhanced duty drawback and some income tax relief for the garment sector.
It’s almost a year since the Central government had announced a special package for the textile industry. But the impact doesn’t seem to be showing, not just yet. Despite the government announcing to would bear the entire 12 per cent employer’s contribution to the employees’ provident fund (EPF) for the first three years, just 20 units have availed of the benefit so far and only 4,300 people have got jobs. Under the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY), the government bears 8.33 per cent of the employer’s contribution to EPF in other sectors.
It’s almost a year since the Central government had announced a special package for the textile industry. But the impact doesn’t seem to be showing, not just yet. Despite the government announcing to would bear the entire 12 per cent employer’s contribution to the employees’ provident fund (EPF) for the first three years, just 20 units have availed of the benefit so far and only 4,300 people have got jobs. Under the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY), the government bears 8.33 per cent of the employer’s contribution to EPF in other sectors.
If Labour Ministry sources are to be believed, it’s all because of the slow implementation of the scheme. The scheme, approved by the Cabinet in June 2016, got other necessary clearances only in August. EPFO had to ready the software and so the enrollment started only from October onwards. Finally, in December, fund disbursements started. The PMPRPY scheme for the apparel sector was later extended to the made-ups sector too. Earmarking a budget of Rs 6,006 crores, the objective of the scheme was to create one crore new jobs, additional exports of $30 billion and Rs 74,000 crores more investments over three years. According to government’s estimate, for every Rs1 crore investment in the garment sector, a minimum of 70 new jobs are created as compared with 10 in steel and 25 in automotive sectors.
Success or Failure, the jury is out there
Analysts believe that the package did not yield the desired results as sectoral players were perhaps more comfortable with the informal nature of the jobs in the sector since it reduces their burden of complying with labour rules. However, official sources say, the number of PMPRPY beneficiaries would go up in coming months as the government has now decided to bear employers’ contribution of 8.33 per cent of basic pay to the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for new employees under the PMRPY even if new posts are not created by the firm. The benefit was earlier available only for new posts created.
The rescue mechanism
The package for the sector included making EPF optional for employees earning less than Rs 15,000 per month. The government wanted to ensure more cash in hand for such employees. For the proposal to strike though, the EPFO needs approval of its highest decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), to be followed by the Cabinet’s approval and vetting by the law department before it could be tabled in Parliament. Many trade unions don’t seem to be happy with the proposal as they think that it would deprive the workers of even an ounce of social security.
The policymakers were planning to extend benefits such as the introduction of fixed-term employment (in line with the seasonal nature of the industry), additional interest subsidy incentives under the technology upgradation fund scheme and enhanced duty drawback coverage for exports to other employment-intensive sectors like leather and footwear as well.
