The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), along with other industry bodies have urged the government to remove anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fiber (VSF) imports to enable the sector to achieve global competitiveness. Noting that the Ministry of Textiles has set a target of $350 billion market size for the growth of the Indian textiles and clothing (T&C) industry by 2025, CITI said this cannot be achieved until the country boosts its textile exports, especially those of man-made fiber (MMF) sector.
The industry has been facing stagnation for many years, mainly due to the lack of availability of basic raw materials of MMF/filament yarn at internationally competitive prices. Hence, various segments of VSF value chain, viz the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), the Bhiwandi Powerloom Weavers Federation (BPWF), the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) etc. have urged the government to remove anti-dumping duty on import of viscose staple fiber.
They say despite being the second largest producer of MMF in the world, India has only 20 per cent share in total T&C exports while China's share of MMF products stands at 80 per cent. The Indian textile industry is not in a position to fully capture the market opportunities compared to Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc, mainly due to the expensive price of VSF which is the second most important basic raw material for the MMF textile value chain.
