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India wants to prevent China from flooding its market with cheap goods. So the approach is to give minimum tariff concessions to Chinese goods and delay concessions by several years and at the same time allow imports from other member countries of the 16-country trade bloc at lower duties. India is looking to treat Chinese products differently due to the burgeoning trade deficit it has with Beijing. In 2015-16, India’s exports to China were $9 billion while imports were a staggering $61.7 billion leaving a trade deficit of $52.7 billion.
This extended phasing out of tariff concessions and differential treatment is called deviations. Since India for some reason had to do away with a three-tier structure of differential duty cuts, deviations are the last ray of hope to contain the trade deficit with China. In the earlier tiered structure, India had proposed to remove duties on 42.5 per cent of the items traded with China, something that China had termed as low.
However, keeping tariff barriers high will raise transaction costs. India’s problem with China seems to be a lack of trade access. And to better manage the trade deficit with China, India needs to call for better trade access rather than opt to keep tariff barriers high.
Global clothing sales have risen dramatically in recent years. Fast fashion businesses have aggressively cut costs and streamlined supply chains, causing the price of clothing to fall relative to prices of other consumer goods.
Emerging economies have seen a large rises in clothing sales as more people have joined the middle class. In five large developing countries—Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Russia—apparel sales grew eight times faster than in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Clothing prices dropped by more than 50 per cent in the UK between 1995 and 2014. This has been encouraging shoppers to buy more. Sales have risen dramatically in recent years in the UK. The number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000. Clothing prices dropped in the UK 53 per cent from 1995 to 2014, while the US recorded a three per cent fall. Shorter lead times for production have allowed clothing makers to introduce new lines more frequently. Zara offers 24 new clothing collections each year while H&M offers 12 to 16 and refreshes them weekly.
But given the environmentally damaging nature of clothing production, this trend for western style consumerism spreading to the developing world could spell serious problems further down the line.
The crash in cotton prices in India has encouraged exporters start to look for contracts for future shipments. A bumper crop has been estimated this year, 35.1 million bales, up 3.8 per cent from the previous year. The benchmark Shankar-6 variety has fallen 19 per cent in a month. During this period, the benchmark Number 2 cotton futures for near-month delivery on the InterContinental Exchange rose a marginal 0.1 per cent. This makes exports viable.
Exporters are waiting for a further fall in local prices before they initiate the signing of contracts with traders for assured supply and deal with foreign buyers. However, a sharp decline in India’s cotton exports is expected during 2016-17 (October this year to next September). That is because Pakistan, which took nearly 40 per cent of 2015-16 exports, has had a bumper crop. Last year, exports to Pakistan not only compensated the decline to China but helped increase the overall shipment. The crop in Pakistan was very bad due to a pest attack. This year, however, no such attack was reported.
Though markets in Bangladesh and Vietnam could be explored, it’s doubtful how far the decline in export will be halted.
Alok Industries’ sustainable debt is slightly less than 50 per cent of the firm’s total debt. This makes the company unfit for invocation of the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A) in its present form. Lenders can invoke the S4A only in companies where 50 per cent of borrowings are sustainable or can be serviced by current cash flows. Bankers are now betting on the RBI to announce certain relaxations in the S4A that would make Alok Industries eligible for invocation of the scheme.
The S4A can be invoked only in stressed accounts that have commenced commercial operations and have a total debt of at least Rs 500 crores. Alok’s sustainable debt is Rs 10,800 crores. With banks not being able to make much headway with the S4A, and in many cases sustainable debt falling just short of the mandated 50 per cent mark, the RBI is likely to tweak its guidelines.
The rules might be diluted so that the sustainable portion of the debt need not be 50 per cent of the total. However, that would require lenders to convert more than 50 per cent of the existing debt into redeemable cumulative optionally convertible preference shares.
Since 2011, Turkey has pursued an open-door policy toward Syrians. There has been a flood of immigrants with their children and there are fears that some of these children are working in factories in Turkey to make clothes for British high street retailers.
British retailers are one of the largest customers for Turkish textile producers and exporters. Turkey says children may be employed, if at all, by fly-by-night manufacturers who do not produce for any global brand. The country has declared that any manufacturer who illegally employs child labor is a traitor and that such manufacturers must be reported.
Turkey also says global brands which outsource manufacturing to Turkey inspect their producers tightly and refuse to tolerate any labor abuses. Turkey says the use of child labor is strictly forbidden and prohibited and it invites those making the charges to visit Turkey and tour all manufacturers who make production for global brands and if any child laborer is found, it is ready to face sanctions.
The country says it follows a policy where formal manufacturers are strictly monitored and inspected and that such unfair allegations undermine Turkey’s assistance to refugees with a particular emphasis on children.
"Safeducate, a specialist in supply chain and logistics training has launched Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). This is a skill certification programme of the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE)."
Safeducate, a specialist in supply chain and logistics training has launched Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). This is a skill certification programme of the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE).
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the Union Minister of State, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship was the chief guest at the launch that took place at Safexpress Logistics Park – NCR. Speaking on the occasion the minister said that through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) scheme under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the government is focusing on reaching out to people in the informal sector. Under the RPL programme, planning is carried out to assess and later certifying over 1 million people is done. These people are engaged in unskilled jobs and either earn low wages or are underpaid. The government’s motive is to provide them recognition for their skills and ensure that they can move on to higher skill job roles. RPL will help them refine their existing skills and find more satisfactory and fulfilling employment opportunities.
Managing Director & chief executive officer of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Manish Kumar was also present on the occasion. He went on to inform that the NSDC facilitates skilling initiatives that can potentially have a multiplier effect. Later, he complimented Safeducate for undertaking this unique initiative.
Announcing the launch of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program to the media, founder & CEO, Safeducate, Divya Jain informed that the aim of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana scheme is to encourage aptitude towards employable skills and to increase working efficiency of probable and existing daily wage earners by giving monetary awards and rewards and by providing quality training to them. RPL is being given a lot of importance under the current phase of PMKVY since it addresses many issues in skill development of unorganized workforce.
Elaborating on the same, she averred that through RPL assessments and certifications, candidates will be able to align competencies that they have acquired informally with the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) for better opportunities in employment and higher education. It will also lead to the creation of an equitable system where the workers in the informal sector who did not have a chance to undergo formal training but have acquired the skills on their own can appear for RPL assessments. This, in turn will help them in exploring different options in training to bridge the knowledge and skill gaps or up-skill themselves.
With the advent of e-commerce, more and more people have been choosing to shop online. And this figure rises significantly during the festive season. As the e-commerce industry continues to grow, so does the need for high-quality logistics and the need for people who are adequately trained in the field. These trainings have been planned keeping in mind the current needs of the economy. In the first phase, Safeducate will train 10,000 candidates (5000 loaders, 3000 loading supervisors and 2000 warehouse pickers) under the RPL program.
Concluding her speech, Jain observed that Safeducate has been working for the last decade towards bridging the skill gaps existing in the Indian economy. Under the Skill India Mission launched in 2015 by the prime minister, Narendra Modi and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Safeducate Container School was launched last year. Since then, the school has been working relentlessly to provide skilling and education to the youth of India.
Vietnam's decision to move away from ratifying the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a blow to the beleaguered trade pact and a setback for American economic ambitions in Asia. The 12-nation TPP is aimed at liberalizing trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Earlier, Vietnam had been hoping that its participation in the deal would lead to an increase in exports.
Even in the US, which initiated negotiations for the pact, approval of the TPP is yet to be completed. This has prompted Vietnam to move slowly. In fact, approval of the TPP is not on the agenda for the current legislative session which runs through late November. This makes it clear that the country will not ratify the pact this year. Vietnam’s decision has had its fallout as well. The Philippines, considering joining the TPP after Vietnam, has changed its decision in recent weeks. This move is seen as moving away from Washington and getting closer to Beijing. With ratification of the TPP looking more likely to stall in a number of countries, the influence of the US in Asia appears to be rapidly weakening.
Responding to the needs of the technical textiles and fibrous materials market in Russia, Messe Frankfurt RUS will turn Techtextil Russia into an annual event, to be held in Moscow for the ninth time from February 20 to 22, next year.
Within the ‘Russian Textile Week’ (February 20 to 23, 2017), five top events will take place at the Expocentre fairground simultaneously. They are: Techtextil Russia – International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles, Nonwovens and Protective Clothing, organized by Messe Frankfurt RUS, Inlegmash - International exhibition for textile manufacturing and processing, CJF – Child and Junior Fashion Spring, Children's fashion and spring and Interfabric International exhibition of fabric and textile materials organized by Expocentre.
The central event will be the IVth international forum of light industry ‘Legpromforum-2017’ in which current issues, challenges and prospects for the industry in general and its` most dynamic segments will be discussed on the highest governmental level. The production and effective use of various types of technical textiles, scientific, and economic aspects of the process will be discussed at the Techtextil Russia Symposium.
Uniting leading industry events at one venue proved its effectiveness last year. Industry professionals positively assessed the joint exhibitions of Techtextil Russia and Inlegmash in the gone by years. The format of the Russian Textile Week allows visitors to attend one site and at the same time discuss a wide range of topics and to identify necessary solutions. The organizers of the Russian Textile Week are IEC Expocentre and the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs of Textile and Light Industry, the official partner is Messe Frankfurt RUS. Interestingly, CPM Moscow, the largest fashion fair in Eastern Europe will be held in parallel to Russian Textile Week.
This year, 120 companies from 15 countries presented their equipment, technologies and products at Techtextil Russia. Local technical textiles and non-wovens market was represented by key players. National Pavilions of Belgium, China, Italy and Germany highlighted the Techtextil Russia exposition.
Despite the 2013’s Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, most consumers still turn a blind eye to the high cost that comes with cheap clothes. Despite best efforts by human rights organizations and environmental groups to change the status quo, a new research by McKinsey suggests that the worst is yet to come. This clearly shows that modern society has become increasingly desensitized to disaster.
The report found that while apparel has seen strong sales growth around the world, a burgeoning middle class in emerging markets has led to a spike in those countries. As a matter of fact, apparel sales in Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia are growing eight times faster than in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
So if consumer spending increases particularly in developing countries and apparel manufacturers churn out cheaper, faster fashion without adopting a more ecologically-sound production process, the garment industry’s environmental footprint would grow bigger than ever, foresees McKinsey. At the rate things are moving, if 80 per cent of the population of emerging economies were to achieve the same clothing-consumption levels as the Western world, by 2025, carbon dioxide emissions would increase by 77 per cent and water consumption would surge by 20 per cent. And that’s before consumers’ post-purchase choices ever come into play.
Rooting out these problems will require businesses to measure sustainability performance across the entire supply chain, set goals for improvements, help suppliers to reduce their impact and hold suppliers accountable if they don’t. As per the report, 22 apparel brands have signed on to the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) while more than 50 retailers and nearly 700 suppliers are involved in the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI).
The Campaign for Wool, The Clothworkers’ Company, The Drapers’ Company and The Weavers’ Company have collaborated for third year to bring about the ‘Making It in Textiles Careers Conference. This was done to provide a free conference for final-year textile degree students. Bradford hosted the conference. It encouraged the participating 120 design and technology students from 23 universities to consider the wide range of roles open to them in the UK’s diverse, creative and fascinating industry over two days of interactive talks followed by visits to leading textile mills in West Yorkshire. The conference brought together industry professionals, educators and undergraduates for a packed program which included personal and professional journey narratives by both new and experienced members of the industry as well as explanations of the supply chain, textile manufacturing methods in the UK and potential roles open to textile design and technology graduates at every stage of production.
The event also offered the opportunity to most students to tour one of six mills in the West Yorkshire area and see for themselves textile production on an industrial scale. One of the most inspiring stories of the conference was delivered by Richard Humphries, who has a silk mill in Sudbury. The company makes luxurious jacquard silks for interiors and gowns. The mill’s work can be found in stately homes including Chatsworth House and Buckingham Palace.
Humphries said the next generation should not only be inspired and made to know that there is a future in British textiles but also one should also make them aware that one can’t just be a designer but he/she needs to have business skills as well. The Huddersfield-based company is developing finishing methods using plasma and lasers to make fabrics last longer and be more sustainable.
