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Hundreds of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the knitting industry will have a direct access to yarn at competitive rates with the setting up of a yarn bank at the knitwear cluster. Experts said the bank would provide an opportunity to knitters to arrest the price fluctuations and eliminate middlemen.
To give a boost to the knitwear clusters — Tirupur, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Kolkata — Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani yesterday announced a slew of measures, including setting up of a yarn bank for the knitting industry.
Ludhiana is a hub of knitwear sector with around 10,000 MSMEs units. The turnover is around Rs 40,000 crore.
“This yarn bank will go a long way in promoting the knitwear industry. It is useful particularly for MSMEs, as they have to shell out Rs 5-10 per kg more for yarn than their bigger counterparts. With the setting up of the yarn bank, bulk purchases can be done which will lead to competitive pricing, thereby benefitting the buyers,” said KG Exports’ MD Harish Dua.
Experts said this would also help knitters to plan their production schedule in advance. The Centre will assist in setting up the yarn bank with a support of Rs 2 crore. “The bank is expected to safeguard the interests of yarn buyers in case of sharp fall in prices. We had a meeting with members and soon an SPV will be floated to set up and run the bank,” he said.
The Textiles Ministry also gave a nod to set up Knitwear and Knitting Skill University which will help the industry in introducing new designs and fill the skill gap shortage. Besides, the ministry has also approved the creation of “Knitwear Mark” to give quality assurance to customers and modernisation of units.
“It was a much-needed initiative and will definitely boost the knitwear sector, provided the measures taken by the government are implemented in a time-bound manner,” said Ajit Lakra, MD, Superfine Knitters Ltd.
A scheme envisaging creation of new service centres on PPP model by the industry and association in the knitting and knitwear clusters was also launched. It entails modernisation and upgrade of existing power loom service centres and institutions run by knitting and knitwear clusters.
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• Australia and Indonesia will sign a free trade agreement next Monday, ending months of uncertainty.
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• Key points:
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• Indonesia considered pulling out of the agreement after Scott Morrison’s comments about moving the embassy to Jerusalem
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• The deal is expected to benefit Australian farmers and the education sector
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• Indonesia wants greater access for its people to work in Australia, as well as support for its crude palm oil industry
• The ABC understands Trade Minister Simon Birmingham will fly to Jakarta with a business delegation on Sunday ahead of the signing the following day, with his counterpart Enggartiasto Lukita.
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• The landmark free trade agreement (FTA) was cemented during Scott Morrison’s first international trip as Prime Minister in September — and it was set to be signed before the end of the year.
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• The deal hit a wall in October, when Indonesia considered putting the imminent agreement on hold over Mr Morrison’s statement he would consider moving the Australian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
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• Indonesia is a strong supporter of the Palestinian territories and repeatedly expressed its concerns with the embassy proposal.
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• The heated debate about Mr Morrison’s captain’s call to shift the Australian embassy threatened the FTA. Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia Gary Quinlan was forced to redouble efforts to assure Indonesian doubters.
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• Heightening tensions was that President Joko Widodo’s main political rival Prabowo Subianto had been stridently critical of Mr Morrison’s call on Jerusalem.
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• It was thought only weeks ago that the FTA signing might have to be pushed back until after the Indonesian presidential election on April 17.
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• Industry leaders react
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• Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox, who will be among those travelling with Mr Birmingham, said the deal showed maturity in “a relationship that has had its ups and downs”.
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• “We have the world’s longest maritime boundary with Indonesia and very deep relationships around security issues, terrorism issues, but our economic relationship is really undercooked,” he said.
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• The deal could open up new opportunities in areas such as technology and education, Mr Wilcox said.
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• “Our economic relationship until now has really been based around agriculture,” he said.
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• “But this free trade agreement gives us potential to broaden it and to make it much deeper into services, deeper into manufacturing.
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• “And there are components there about skill sharing.
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• “Skill sharing as our economy changes shape and we become more focused on technology is going to be very important to both countries and will tie us closer together as we look forward.”
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• Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association CEO Ashley Manicaros told AM the development was an “excellent result”.
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• “It’s going to increase the value of the trade between the two countries and it’s going to increase the value to the farmer at the farm gate … it means greater returns which means greater investment back into the industry,” Mr Manicaros said.
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• “The fact that behind the scenes they’ve been able to work through a resolution and the fact they’ll be signing well ahead of that is a very big positive from the industry’s point of view.”
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• AUSVEG national manager Michael Coote said the agreement could see Australia’s major carrot and potato growers back on Indonesian shelves “almost immediately”.
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• “The industry really supports any sort of trade liberalisation,” Mr Coote said.
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• “Indonesia is a major trading partner close to our shores, so there are benefits in terms of reduced freight times.
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• “Having access back into this market that is so close, has such a large population and does have an appetite for Australian produce is a real boom for the vegetable industry.”
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• Deal faced ups and downs over decade
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• The trade deal has been eight years in the making and should benefit Australian grain growers, with Indonesia agreeing to import 500,000 tonnes of grain tariff free.
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• Mr Morrison said in August negotiators had also secured lower tariffs, or greater access on live cattle, dairy and horticulture.
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• The agreement should also benefit the Australian education sector, with universities and vocational training providers being given the green light to set up shop in Indonesia.
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• Indonesia wants greater access for Indonesians to work in Australia as well as support for its crude palm oil industry.
• The signing is being kept deliberately low-key, given the proximity of the Indonesian election.
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• Consequently, the decision has been made to keep the signing at trade minister-level, rather than involve the leaders.
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• Mr Birmingham and Foreign Minister Marise Payne stepped up their efforts to secure the FTA in recent months, in the wake of Malcolm Turnbull’s ousting as prime minister.
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• Mr Turnbull had formed a strong relationship with Mr Widodo and his exit from Australian politics was thought to have imperilled the deal.
China said on Friday it “regrets” a World Trade Organization ruling in Washington’s favour over a dispute on Chinese subsidies to wheat and rice producers.
The decision comes as the world’s top two economies try to hammer out an agreement to settle a long-running trade row that has rattled global markets.
The United States in 2016 alleged that China doled out $100 billion in “market price support” for wheat and rice as well as corn production, above levels agreed to at the Geneva-based WTO.
“The expert group did not support the Chinese position on the calculation of the subsidy level for our minimum purchase price policy on wheat and rice. The Chinese side regrets this,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.
China is the world’s largest producer of wheat and rice, holding significant sway over world markets.
WTO experts said they had found that each year from 2012 to 2015, China’s market price support for wheat, Indica rice and Japonica rice “exceeded its 8.5 percent de minimis level of support for each of these products”.
“Government support for domestic agriculture, guaranteeing farmers’ income, and maintaining food security are common practices in all countries and permitted by WTO rules,” the ministry said in the statement attributed to the head of its treaty and law department. “China has always respected WTO rules and will carefully evaluate the expert group’s report, and properly handle it according to the WTO dispute settlement procedures,” it said.
Both sides have up to 60 days to appeal Thursday’s ruling. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue earlier hailed the ruling as a “significant victory for US agriculture” saying they hoped China would quickly come into compliance.
Vietnamese shares ended this week down following the conclusion of the domestic exchange-traded fund VFMVN30 ETF’s portfolio restructuring on Friday that drowned many large-caps.
Investors’ focus was shifted to the at-the-close session when the fund completed its portfolio restructuring.
During the process, the fund decided to cut their proportions of some Vietnamese shares, prompting them to fall sharply. It also added some other stocks to its new list.
The market will be shut down during the T?t (Lunar New Year) holiday, from February 4 to February 8.
The benchmark VN-Index on the H? Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.22 per cent to close at 908.67 points.
The southern market index went down 0.57 per cent to end Thursday at 910.65 points.
The HNX Index on the Hà N?i Stock Exchange edged up 0.44 per cent to end at 103.34 points.
The northern market index dropped 0.42 per cent to end at 102.31 points on Thursday.
More than 156 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VN?4 trillion (US$173.5 million).
Real estate, securities, mining, retail and construction material companies were among the firms that lost ground on Friday.
The industry indices respectively decreased 0.04 per cent and 3.81 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.
Large-cap stocks also performed poorly with the blue-chip VN30 Index down 0.72 per cent to 859.81 points.
Of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket, 16 decreased including real estate developer Vingroup (VIC), confectionary producer KIDO Group (KDC), Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD) and steel maker Hòa Phát Group (HPG).
KDC hit the daily limit decline of 7 per cent. Vingroup (VIC) dropped 5 per cent to close at VN?98,800 per share. CTD fell 2.4 per cent to trade at VN?132,400 per share.
HPG extended its decline when losing 0.4 per cent to VN?27,300 per share.
On the other side, budget carrier Vietjet (VJC) increased 1.5 per cent to trade at VN?125,000 per share, consumer staple Masan Group (MSN) rose by 0.7 per cent to VN?78,400 per share.
Notably, Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Export Import Bank (EIB) soared, hitting the daily limit rise of 7 per cent as it was the stock added to the list of VFMVN30 ETF today.
Foreign investors today bought a net of VN?170.5 billion on the HOSE, focusing on SCSC Cargo Service Corporation (SCS) (VN?28.87 billion), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) (VN?60.54 billion) and Vincom Retail (VRE) (VN?59.38 billion). They bought a net of VN?4.88 billion on the HNX.
According to BIDV Securities Company (BSC), the market has a slight correction with strong profit-taking sentiment.
Investors should monitor macro movements in the Tet holiday before making investment decisions in the beginning of the lunar year, the company said in its report.
Total outlay for the knitwear scheme is Rs. 47.72 crore
Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani launched a comprehensive programme on Thursday for the the development of knitting and knitwear sector in the country under the PowerTex India scheme.
The programme, the outlay for which is Rs. 47.72 crore, would be in operation till the end of March next year.
The total outlay for PowerTex India Scheme and the Knitwear Scheme is Rs. 487.07 crore. Of this, Rs. 439.35 crore is for powerloom units for three years from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2020 and Rs. 47.72 crore for the knitwear scheme, according to a statement from the Textiles Ministry. Almost Rs. 170 crore were disbursed to the powerloom sector till January 31, 2019.
Knitting is a major segment in the textile value chain, constituting 27% of the total fabric produced in the country.
Knitwear clusters
Of the knitted fabric produced, 15% is exported. Some of the major knitwear clusters in the country are Tiruppur, Ludhiana, Kanpur, and Kolkata, said the Textiles Minister.
The programme for knitting and knitwear units, catering to domestic and exports markets, has eight components where the industries would get support to install machinery under group work shed scheme, buy yarn, go in for solar energy, have common facilities and create new service centres under public private partnership mode.
“Since the scheme is for knitting and knitwear units, stitching machinery can also be installed under the group work shed scheme,” said K. Selvaraju, secretary general, Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA).
: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Wednesday formally kickstarted Rs 14,071 crore worth projects, part of those signed in the Global Investors Meet in January by laying the foundation stone for them
The second edition of GIM was held on January 23 and 24.
The government has said that these projects would lead to creation of jobs for 12,294 people in the state.
Some of the top companies that signed MoUs include Korean auto-major Hyundai Motor for Rs 7,000 crore, tyre major MRF Ltd for Rs 3,100 crore and auto-components maker Sundaram Clayton Group to invest Rs 1,200 crore.
The GIM saw 309 MOUs being signed, attracting investments worth Rs three lakh crore that would create direct and indirect employment for 10.5 lakh people.
The foundation stone laying ceremony also marked the beginning of commercial production of Sheng Long Biotech India Pvt Ltd, which had signed an MoU during the first edition of GIM that was formally inaugurated by the then and late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2015.
Sheng Long Bio-tech India Pvt Ltds is engaged in fishing, operation of fish hatcheries and fish farms, service activities incidental to fishing. It has a unit in Thervoy Kandigai in Kancheepuram district.
Some of other companies which signed MoUs in the second GIM include steel-wheels manufacturer Wheels India Rs 600 crore, Mando Automotive India Rs 844 crore, Salcomp Manufacturing India to set up mobile parts equipment at Nokia Special Economic Zone at an investment of Rs 500 crore.
Coimbatore-based Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd which would invest Rs 600 crore to take up expansion of its facility, Roots Industries India Rs 23 crore, Roots Multiclean Ltd Rs 45 crore, Pure Chemicals Ltd Rs 20 crore, JS Auto Cast Foundries Rs 39 crore to set up an automobile parts manufacturing unit.
Thanjavur-based SASTRA University has also planned to invest Rs 100 crore to take up expansion plans.
Fisheries minister D Jayakumar, industries minister M C Sampath, chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, among others, were also present on the occasion.
MSME Development Institute, Chennai, a division of Union Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Ministry, will organise a two-day trade fair, ‘Udyam Samaagam’, at the Institute’s campus here on March 4 and 5.
The trade fair, themed ‘General Engineering & Auto component manufacturing sector’ will focus on showcasing the strength of MSMEs in these sectors and will enhance their marketing avenues.
The other objective of the two-day event is to bring MSMEs, Central and State public sector undertakings (PSUs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other stakeholders on a common platform.
The event will also create awareness about various State and Central government schemes to the participating units, besides disseminating information on export/import (exim) polices of the government.
Over 100 existing micro & small enterprises (MSEs) will exhibit their products and more than 15 Central PSUs and research institutes will participate in the programme. The event will also see a national workshop on exim policy and procedures of the government of India.
GDP growth slowed for the third consecutive quarter in the October-December 2018 period, according to data released on Thursday.
Growth fell to 6.6% in the third quarter, the lowest in the last six quarters.
The growth estimate for fiscal 2018-19 has been scaled down to 7% from the earlier estimated 7.2%.
The slowdown was led by agriculture, which is estimated to grow at 2.7%, against the earlier estimate of 3.8%.
The manufacturing sector is estimated to grow at 8.1%, marginally lower than the previously estimated 8.3%.
The government on Thursday revised downwards its estimate for GDP growth in the 2018-19 fiscal.
The objective of creation of new service centres (NSCs) on the PPP model is aimed at providing adequate facilities for testing, training, sample development, consultancy, trouble shooting and facilitation services.
A comprehensive scheme for the development of the knitting and knitwear sector with various components under PowerTex India scheme was launched on Thursday by the Union textiles ministry, aimed at boosting major clusters in India, including Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), Ludhiana and Kolkata.
There are 8 components under this comprehensive scheme which include creation of new service centres through the public-private partnership (PPP) model by industry/associations in the knitting and knitwear clusters; modernisation and upgradation of existing powerloom service centres, institutions run by textile research associations/export promotion councils associations; group workshed scheme; yarn bank scheme; common facility centre scheme for the units; Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme; solar energy scheme and facilitation, IT, awareness, studies, surveys, market development and publicity, according to a document.
The objective of creation of new service centres (NSCs) on the PPP model is aimed at providing adequate facilities for testing, training, sample development, consultancy, trouble shooting and facilitation services. An association will be formed by the units to run the service centres. First-in-first-out rules will be followed in case of testing samples. The recurring expenditure for running the KSCs will be borne by the stakeholders/associations. A financial assistance of Rs 2 crore per centre will be provided towards purchase of testing equipment and machineries for training.
Under the modernisation and upgradation of existing PSCs component, the Union government will provide financial assistance towards incurring expenditure to the exsiting powerloom centres run by the textile research associations or any other associations. A financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh per centre will be provided by the textile commissioner to modernise such centres.
The group workshed scheme component is aimed at establishing group worksheds for installation of modern knitting and knitwear machines in an existing or new clusters. There will be an additional subsidy for construction of dormitory for workers.
The yarn bank scheme is aimed at enabling small units to purchase the yarn at wholesale rate and in large quantities by avoiding middle man/local suppliers’ charges by way of providing interest-free coupons fund to a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The Union government shall provide an interest-free corpus fund, maximum of up to Rs 2 crore, per yarn bank to SPV.
The common facility centre (CFC) scheme will enable to establish centres in various clusters and provide pre- and post-knitting infrastructure to the group. These centres will house design centre, studio, testing facilities, training centre, trade centre, common raw material/yarn/sales depot, water treatment plant, among others. An assistance of Rs 4 crore will be made available for for setting up CFCs, including yarn depot.
According to the document, the Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme aims to provide adequate and timely financial assitance to the units to meet their credit requirement, investment needs in a flexible and cost effective manner. The scheme will be implemented in all knitwear clusters across the country.
The Solar Energy Scheme’s prime objective is to provide financial assistance/capital subsidy to small sector and allied industry units for installation of solar phto voltaic plant to avoid power cut. Knitting units having upto 6 machines and knitwear units having upto 50 stitching machines are eligible for this scheme. The union government will provide financial assistance varying from 50% to 90% to the applicants of general category, SC & ST respectively. Under ongrid upto 45KW a maximum of Rs 63,000 will be provided and under offgrid upto 45 KW, a maximum sum of Rs 81,000 will be provided.
The knitting is a major segment in the entire textile value chain and this sector contributes 27% of the total cloth production and about 15% of knitted fabric is being exported besides export of knitted apparel.
Sanjay K Jain, chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) while welcoming the scheme and hailed it as a historic step which would create value to the bottom of the pyramid. Since the knitting and knitwear industry is predominantly MSME in size and mainly located in decentralised sector, the scheme will help to promote this sector and thereby achieve the inclusive growth in the country and is a positive step to fulfil our Honourable Prime Minister’s Rs Make in India’ dream.
According to him, the scheme will enhance the sector’s contribution to the nation building as knitting and knitwear sector is one of the major segments of the entire textile value chain and contributes about 27% of the total cloth production and about 15% of knitted fabric is being exported besides export of knitted apparel. He further informed that the share of knitted garments in value terms is about 38% in overall export of clothing. Despite knitwear sector growing at a much faster pace than weaving, it had been neglected till date and all schemes were just targeted for handloom and powerloom sector despite this segment being of similar nature and character, he added.
Analysts estimate that about 17 GW of power plants will have to be decommissioned as they would not meet the emission norms within the deadline, mainly due to lack of space to accommodate the new systems.
To meet the additional expenditure required to adhere to the environmental norms for thermal power plants, the states have sought access to the Centre-operated Power System Development Fund and the National Clean Energy Fund. According to sources, many states have demanded that the capital expenditure on this account should be passed on as grants and not considered as loans. The issues were raised at the conference of power ministers of states recently held at Gurgaon.
According to the ministry of environment and forests’ (MoEF) mandate, 1,61,402 mega watt (MW) power generation capacity would have to install flue gas de-sulphurisation (FGD) units and 64,525 MW capacity will have to be upgraded with electrostatic precipitators to reduce emissions. The estimated capex to install the emission reducing equipment are in the range of Rs 88 lakh to Rs 128 lakh for every MW. This is expected to raise power tariffs by Rs 0.62-0.93/unit. The average price at which power distribution companies (discoms) purchase power is about Rs 3.5/unit.
The state power departments would be wary of any rise in power costs with financial losses of the discoms under the UDAY scheme increasing by 36% year-on-year to Rs 15,080 crore in H1FY19.
Private power generators, already reeling under stressed assets of about Rs 2 lakh crore, had already flagged the concern in 2018 and requested the power ministry to designate REC and PFC as nodal financing institutions for pollution control equipment. “With high exposure and large number of projects on watch list, no bank is willing to lend more money to developers,” Ashok Khurana, director-general, association of power producers, had told FE.
Analysts estimate that about 17 GW of power plants will have to be decommissioned as they would not meet the emission norms within thCe deadline, mainly due to lack of space to accommodate the new systems.
The FGD installation drive is seen to open up a Rs 1.3-lakh-crore opportunity for companies such as BHEL, L&T and GE Power which provide emissions control equipment. State-owned power generation behemoth NTPC would install FGDs in 63.2 GW of compatible power stations. Out of this, it has already awarded contracts for 32 GW and 28 GW are under various stages of tendering.
