Ravi Sam, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) appreciated the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Textile Minister for giving thrust for inclusive growth, infrastructure and investment green growth, skill development, etc., that would greatly help the highly labour, power and capital intensive textile industry in the Union Budget 2023-24. SIMA Chairman thanked the Government for considering the proposal submitted by the Association and announcing a Scheme for increasing the production of Extra Long Staple Cotton in the country under Cluster Development Initiative through PPP mode.
SIMA Chief thanked the Government for allocating Rs.9,000 crores for ECLGS for MSMEs, as the textile industry would be the major beneficiary out of the scheme since more than 80% of the textile units come under the MSME category. He has also appreciated the Government for introducing separate HS codes for different staple length of cotton including Extra Long Staple cotton, when imported from other countries.
While appreciating various features of Union Budget 2023-24, Ravi Sam has said that the Government could have avoided the increase in the Basic Customs Duty on textile machinery from 5% to 7.5% as the country is not even producing 20% of the machinery requirement. He said that this will have some impact on the global competitiveness.