The International Cotton Association ICA has been forced to suspend its annual training programme, Complete Cotton, due to a number of industry changes that have resulted in a shortfall in delegate applications.

ICA Directors reluctantly made the decision last week, following a meeting of the Association’s Training Committee. Kai Hughes, ICA Managing Director, explains:

“This past year has been particularly difficult for firms with many having to make savings. There has also been a large amount of consolidation in the industry, which has seen a decrease in the number of new entrants into the trade. In addition, strict visa restrictions for entry into the UK have had a direct impact on the number of students joining the course.

“Despite actively marketing the course, take up has been slow and disappointing. There were 35 places available and, as of last week, eight delegates had signed up. One of the major benefits of attending the course is the networking and the friendships that the students make. This year’s delegate shortfall was considered to be well below the level required to produce a viable course for our students and it would also have had a big financial impact for the ICA. All these factors played a part in our decision - it was a sad decision, but the right one.”

Complete Cotton was due to take place in April in Liverpool, UK. It is a two-week training programme that focuses on all aspects of the cotton trade and, over the years, it has provided an excellent grounding for many of today’s influential players in the cotton world.

Kai concludes: “On a more positive note, the decision to suspend the 2010 programme has forced us to take action and re-evaluate our education provision. We aim to completely re-think and re-vamp the course in time for next year - rationalising the syllabus and providing more advanced, in depth modules on aspects of the trade. We also want to be able to introduce a range of new courses that can be delivered at global locations, that are demand led, trade focused and are flexible enough to react to the ever-changing market conditions.”

Source: http://www.ica-ltd.org/news/ica-re-evaluates-its-training-provision

ASSOCHAM President Dr. Swati Piramal while welcoming Budget proposals, termed them as Pragmatic, positive, growth and development oriented as these aim at attaining inclusive growth.

“The Finance Minister has performed the most balancing act under given circumstances by partially rolling out the Stimulus package and at the same time paid adequate attention for development of social sector and more specifically so for rural sector”, said Dr. Piramal.

Mr. Mukherjee has done his best in the budget proposals to fuel consumption and sufficiently incentivised renewable energy, infrastructure, research and development in health and equipped these sectors with reasonably higher allocations.

Dr. Piramal also welcomed a deadline set for introduction of GST and Direct Tax Code, pointing out that these would be major tax reforms which will not only provide tax relief’s to people and industry but also help the government realize higher tax collections.

According to ASSOCHAM, the budget proposals will bring in more money in hands of individuals as several good measures have been introduced in the Finance Bill in the form of tax relief’s to general public. Mr. Mukherjee for the first time in the recent history of budget presentation placed huge faith in the private sector which will come forward to building Indian economy and help it achieve higher growth in years to come.

The ASSOCHAM has also welcomed announcements for bringing in more and more services under the purview of service tax by not tinkering with it’s existing ceiling rate of 10%.

SOURCE: http://www.assocham.org/prels/shownews.php?id=2339

Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Union Textile Minister, informed that the textile industry is first to come out of recession among other industries in India. Mr Maran was speaking at the Textile Industry Roundtable organized by CII in Mumbai.

There is speculation in the industry that profits have been shrinking. Recession was in India for just nine months. Now most of the companies are posting profits but there is still scope for improvement the Minister said. Currently, more than 50% of production is exported, but the industry also needs to focus on the domestic market, Mr Maran said.

Speaking on the issues faced by the industry, the Minister said that the legacy issues have to be overcome and the industry needs to look at aggressive investments in order to meet the challenges posed by competing countries like China.

The Minister clarified that the government does not have a large role to play since the stimulus was announced and what is required is new ideas, which would help the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.

Mr Maran said that the government has provided stimulus packages to the industry as and when they were required. During recession, within 72 hours, a stimulus package was given to the industry. “About 70% beneficiaries of the government funding for capital investment are spinning mills and the least is garment units whereas, the garments generate maximum employment,” he added.

Commenting on the focus of the Ministry of Textiles, he said that the exports and technical textiles will be the key focus areas in the future. “However, the Indian exporters are more dependent on the European and US markets. Both the markets have tendency of parallel movement and they boom together and also fall together. Indian exporters should focus on other big markets also. The entire US import markets fell by 12.04% yet the Indian exports to the US maintained their share and fell by a smaller percentage of 7.56%, a similar trend is also seen in the EU market,” Mr Maran commented.

On the sector’s growth plan ahead, he said, “India’s domestic textile consumption is third largest in the world. In this environment, we have targeted a growth path at 12% for the next five years and global trade share of 7%. We have to focus on the rural market. Malls and retail space created by malls are not the solution to increase the business. The companies in garments should focus on big rural market too. However, they try to compete more with the international brands which sell products at very high prices.”

Mr T Kannan, Chairman, CII National Committee on Textiles and MD of Thiagarajar Mills said that the industry needs to scale up on productivity through clustering. Integrated textile parks operating on gas, as the electricity availability is still an issue and should be set up close to these clusters.” He also appealed to the Minster to extend TUFs and welcomed the Textile Minister’s move of encouraging FDI in the industry.

The Roundtable saw participation of all key players from the sector including the textile machinery manufacturers.

Source: http://www.cii.in/PressreleasesDetail.aspx?enc=8cO0URww/EJ3aPctI5KRaUIFaE+9fPE/kLdHo6Oup9t4RvKTQb80Js6sx+ren6AuH7YL20Bg8ZhPMSoHctkhbs/NhPNH2EDtf5NEgUo0MzLDLCGL2sE+Hzwn5Vn7iTOEbvudhqkKEL/dV0NAb20X0Q==

The global economic crisis has favoured apparel exports from some of the world’s poorest nations but stunted the growth of others, according to a UN report.

Least developed countries (LDC’s) including Bangladesh and Haiti have expanded exports while Cambodia lost out as higher costs hit value and volume of both knit and non-knit apparel shipments. During the first nine months of 2009, knit and non-knit apparel accounted for $12.2bn in export revenues for LCDs overall, down just 1% from the prior year period.

During the same period of review, notes the report by the Geneva-based International Trade Centre, knit apparel exports declined in volume terms by 0.72% and non-knit by 1.25% for the regions. Furthermore, unit prices for LDC apparel exports grew by 0.9% for knit and by 3.5% for non-knit, the ITC said, despite the global fall in wool prices by 15.5% and the price of cotton by 22%.

In 2008, the top five LDC exporters – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Madagascar, Haiti, and Myanmar – accounted for 92% exports in the sector with Bangladesh having a 66.4% share and Cambodia, with 20.9%, accounting for the bulk of the shipments. In the first nine-months of 2009, Bangladesh’s exports of knit apparel were up 5% on the same period in 2008, with volume up 3.1% and Germany the top destination with a 23.8% share, the ITC said.

Similarly, for non-knit the value of Bangladesh’s exports reached $3.8bn, up 6.6%, while volume expanded by 3.3%, with the US its top market with 48.1% share. However, during the same period Cambodia posted doubled digit declines in both the value and volume in both categories, it said.

The value of Cambodia’s knit exports declined by 17% to $1.8bn, while the value of its non-knit exports also declined, by 30%. The US remained Cambodia’s top export market.

Bangladesh, with the lowest labour costs in the apparel industry - estimated in 2009 at $0.7 per day compared to $1.7 in Cambodia — increased its exports to the US by 2% during the period while those from Cambodia declined by 24%, the ITC estimates. Increasing electricity and oil costs, among other inputs, relative to competitors, are singled out as contributing to Cambodia’s loss of market share.

Finally, the report notes that Haiti, thanks largely to its preferential access to the US market, posted a 22.4% increase in the value of knit exports and 29.7% increase in non-knit apparel in the first nine month of 2009.

Source: http://www.aepcindia.com/international.asp?id=211&yr=2010

An attractive textile policy will be announced soon by Tamil Nadu state government to promote investment and employment in the sector, said chief minister M. Karunanidhi during an award function organised by the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL).

While giving export awards for 2008-09, the he appealed the investors from other states and other countries to make investments in the textile industrial units of Tamil Nadu, and assured them about offering the required assistance.

Mr Karunanidhi said that around four million workers earn their living from state’s textile industry and that the approval for instituting five integrated textile parks at various locations in the state — including, Kumarapalayam, Cuddalore, Vadipatti (Madurai district), Andipatti (Theni district) and Karur had supported the textile investment in the state.

While explaining the initiatives and policy interventions made by the government, the chief minister said he had announced a marine discharge project in the state assembly to prevent environmental degradation and enable textile units to meet judicial directives. The value added tax (VAT) has been removed from sales of cotton in the state by Cotton Corporation of India.

Moreover, hank yarn has been exempted from sales tax facilitating around 600,000 handloom weavers. Mr Karunanidhi praised union textile minister Dayanidhi Maran for releasing the pending amount of Rs 25.4 billion on time towards arrears under the Technology Upgradation Fund, and for taking measures to convert the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Institute of Textile Management in Coimbatore into an international textile business school.

The textile ministry will set up cotton depots across the nation if like Tamil Nadu other state governments too exempt resale of cotton from VAT, said Mr Maran. TEXPROCIL chairman V.S. Velayutham urged the chief minister to facilitate smoother power supply to the sector to fulfill export orders.

Source: http://www.aepcindia.com/national.asp?id=210&yr=2010

The AEPC organised a meeting in Chennai to help exporters understand the existing advance licensing scheme of the Foreign Trade Policy.

The norms committee members of Director General of Foreign Trade interacted with exporters and highlighted normal precautions to be taken while submitting applications for obtaining licences under self-declared advance licensing scheme. Leading garment exporters of the region were present.

Due to insufficient details, decisions on consumption are delayed and exporters or their representatives are required to visit Office of the Director General of Foreign Trade in New Delhi for personal hearing in such cases.

The general mistakes found in self-declaration licence application are: wrong ITC codes mentioned for both import and export items, unit of measurement wrongly given in metres instead of square metres, mismatch of GSM of fabric both import and export, mismatch of description of import and export items, consumption of fabric required for manufacture of resultant product not given properly, wastage claimed in resultant product not correctly mentioned, CAD and sketch of resultant product not submitted.

Before preparing application, exporters should verify whether the resultant product is covered under SION. In case item is not covered under SION, then application is prepared under self declaration scheme.

Exporters should also verify whether the application is to be made under para 4.7 or 4.7.1 of HBP. In case ad hoc norms have already been fixed for resultant product, then application is prepared under para 4.7.1 of HBP.

Source: http://www.aepcindia.com/news.asp?id=212&yr=2010

The Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT) and the Italian Trade Commission will hold a technological seminar on “Italian textile machinery: the way to improve Bangladesh textile competitiveness” in Dhaka on next March 9th.

During the seminar some leading Italian companies (Bellini, Comez, Danti, Fadis, Jaeggli, Marzoli, Obem, Pentek, Plm, Reggiani, Roj, Salmoiraghi, Santoni, Savio, Unitech) will show their own case history regarding the Italian leadership in the textile machinery industry, giving an overview of its updated technologies to the Bangladeshi textile operators.

The seminar attended by an institutional delegation of ACIMIT, leaded by President Mr. Sandro Salmoiraghi, will represent an occasion for some meetings between ACIMIT Board representatives and the main authorities of the Bangladesh textile sector and some Country’s textile association.

The seminar is part of a promotional program that ACIMIT and Italian Trade Commission have been realizing for many years in order to strengthen the links between Italian textile technology providers and the local textile operators. The promotional initiatives of this program includes many technological workshops (the last one occurred in Dhaka in 2008) and training courses in Italy (the last one in 2009).

The upgrading of installed equipments is considered by Bangladesh companies necessary for increasing the competitiveness of local industry. In order to reach this goal many investments in foreign textile technology were accomplished in the last years. The demand of Italian textile machinery from local companies was very strong in the last five years. During 2004-2008 period imports of Italian textile machinery grew at an annual rate of 17%.

In 2008 Italian sales to Bangladesh went up to Euro 41 million from Euro 31 million in 2007, confirming Bangladesh as the third leading Asian market behind only China and India. In the first nine months of 2009 Italian manufacturers delivered technology to Bangladesh’s market worth around Euro 18 million.

During the period from January to September 2009 sales of Italian machinery to Bangladesh were distributed as follows: finishing machinery 58% of total, spinning machines 17%, weaving machines 14%, accessories 10% and knitting machines 1%.

“Going to Bangladesh – ACIMIT President, Mr. Salmoiraghi, says - our main goal is to strengthen the relationship between Italian textile machinery manufacturers and Bangladesh textile industry and to acquaint Bangladeshi operators with excellence, quality and creativity of Italian textile machinery industry”.

Source: http://www.acimit.it/

In a draft report released in January by the Productivity Commission, the alarming data is that 2.5 million Australians experienced some aspect of bullying during their working lives.

The report also said that while some progress has been made in overcoming inconsistencies in the occupational health and safety standards nationally, business was still required to comply with a staggering 3392 pages of regulation across Australia.

Importantly, the Commission found that the total cost to the economy of bullying and harassment was about $14.8 billion a year; and this did not include the hidden costs, such as hiring and training employees to replace those who left as a result of workplace stress.

The report indicated that workplace stress claims tend to be more costly than claims for less serious physical injuries and resulted in more time taken off work. Taken across state borders – only Queensland and Western Australia had codes of practice on how to detect and manage bullying, thus giving employers more clarity as to their responsibilities; South Australia was the only state to include specific laws in its Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare legislation about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

At $15 billion plus a year it is clearly unsustainable and totally unacceptable, but the dollars pale against the human cost.

Source: http://www.acapma.com.au/news/232

“Tamil Nadu is soon forming a dedicated project facilitation committee. The State is keen to partner with private investors in generation of power, development of sea port, Special Economic Zones and townships,” said Mr Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary – Industries, Government of Tamil Nadu. He said that low cost production base, lower wage rates and availability of skilled man power are the key factors that are contributing to the growth of Tamil Nadu, which has become one among the fastest growing and largest economies of India.

Delivering his address at the Plenary Session on “Destination Tamil Nadu – Leading India’s Progress” at The Partnership Summit 2010 – “Global Partnerships: Meeting Challenges”, a two-day international event, being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today, Mr Ranjan said that the State employs more workers in factories than any other States in India. It occupies third position in India when it comes to net value addition. It is considered to have the most cost effective manufacturing base, than even China. According to Oxford Analytica, which had recently come out with a report title, “India Deconstructed”, Tamil Nadu has the most attractive operating environment in India. The State also ranks favorably in Mercer cost of living.

Mr Ranjan said that the State is an export hub for many global automobile companies – it produces a wide range of auto products, from bicycles to battle tanks. It accounts for 32% of automobile production in India. For every one minute, three cars are produced and for every 75 seconds, a commercial vehicle is produced. In 2010 alone, it will attract investment worth US$ 3 billion in car production. The total installed capacity of cars is being added at 1.28 million every year, making Chennai the top 10 centres in the world for car manufacturing.

In his address, Mr PWC Davidar, IAS, Secretary – IT, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that despite global slowdown in 2008-09, the software exports from the State has increased to Rs 36,680 crore from Rs 28,426 crore in 2007-08. Tamil Nadu also has achieved international standards in the delivery of software services to the export markets in the parameters of quality, man power, product and timeline.

He said that the power consumption in the State has increased from 38,374 million units in 2004 to 53,849 million units in 2009. The installed capacity has increased to 10,214 MW and in the next five years, another 8,000MW will be added.

While addressing the session, Dr V Irai Anbu, IAS, Secretary – Tourism & Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that Tamil Nadu’s tourism industry offers great potential for water sports and adventure sports. The State has five among the 26 UNESCO heritage sites in the world. The State government is promoting investment opportunities in eighteen lesser known destinations, by providing 10% capital subsidy. The State has big scope in medical tourism, as there is no waiting time and the treatment cost is less.

In his address, Mr K Ganesan, IAS, Principal Secretary – Department of Higher Education, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that over five lakh students enroll for various streams of higher education in Tamil Nadu, which has 456 engineering colleges and 386 polytechnic colleges. The state has 200 engineering students, 180 polytechnic and diploma holders and 400 graduates of arts and science for a population of one hundred thousand people. He said that Tamil Nadu is the only State in India that has introduced universal semester system, choice-based credit system, grading system, and easy transfer of credits.

While chairing the session, Mr C K Ranganathan, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council, said that Tamil Nadu is occupying an enviable position among other Indian states in industrial development with one of largest, fastest growing economies. Low cost production base and qualified work force are two of the most important advantages of Tamil Nadu, which also has people with right attitude for business.Ms Gayathri Sriram, Chairperson, CII Chennai Zone provided the closing remarks.

Source:http://www.cii.in/PressreleasesDetail.aspx?enc=/C/hscHhtgPIkGQLHj23zUbP8tiyreFVFOR4PlmbmSKqUquPY5u8FwiAt9gZlSB+5W90/+3VRp7MsU8Tw3IqxTbQwkiExK9OYH15bRgcASlGkQBfEChkB1Oq4njnUTokKbbG3kDcbLV1dUj84AXETQ==

In a bid to give further boost to the Healthcare sector, The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has suggested that it should be accorded with twin benefits of `Infrastructure Status’ and holiday schemes up to a period of 10 years.

In it’s Pre-Budget Memorandum submitted to Finance Ministry, the Chamber has pointed out that presently Sub-section (11B) of section 80-IB provides a tax holiday for five consecutive assessment years, beginning from the initial AY, to an undertaking deriving profits from the business of operating and maintaining a hospital in a rural area.

The ASSOCHAM has further stated that with accordance of infrastructure status to healthcare sector and keeping in view huge potential and investment incentives in sector, it would certainly boost desired investments flow from overseas and domestic players. By providing incentives to investments in healthcare sector, the demand and supply gap which is very huge right now will also narrow down to a large extent.

In addition, it would also lead to opportunities such as create more job prospects, growth in service sector, enhance bed capacity in hospitals, bring in more foreign exchange to the nation by way of medical travel.

On employment front, the Chamber has stated that healthcare sector can generate 0.7–0.9 million jobs for doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, development of healthcare sector will not only give opportunities to talent in India but also help to reverse the brain drain.

Infrastructure status would enable setting up of more and more training centers for doctors and nurses, which would help the healthcare sector and Indian economy in a major way.

Due to increased job availability in healthcare sector, the service sector which is major contributor to the GDP of India will witness further growth, similar to that of IT sector, feels the Chamber.

By giving due consideration to healthcare sector, it can lead to narrowing down gap between current and required bed: population ratio in hospitals which is very low in India compared to major developed economies.

With various private players looking to manufacture medical equipment in India, it would definitely give a boom to manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector and the service sector would complement each other and benefit to the Indian economy. There would be a huge demand for the medical equipment in the healthcare sector due to which considerable growth can be seen in manufacturing sector as well.

Medical value travel: Ministry of Tourism and the Healthcare sector have been trying to improve India’s image and provide healthcare to the globe at a reasonable cost. This can bring along US$1-US$2 billion of FDI which is valuable for our country.

The Government would benefit a lot with medical value travel as the number of Tourist in the country would increase by about 4 million (approx.) and the image of India would improve considerably. With this India can be foreseen as a hub for Medical Value Travel.

Reduction of the burden from metro cities: With the penetration, the rural areas as well as the rural masses would benefit in a major way with world class medical care becoming available for them

Accordance of Infrastructure status would also enable mushrooming of the healthcare centers which will lead to a lot of healthy competition in the market, which in turn could bring the prices of healthcare down.

Source: http://www.assocham.org/prels/shownews.php?id=2315