Textiles minister Smriti Zubin Irani says textile ministry has designed a policy framework to promote e-marketing of handloom products, under which any willing e-commerce platform with good track record can participate in online marketing of handloom products.

Accordingly, 23 e-commerce entities have participated in the online marketing of handloom products. The government has also decided to continue the RoSCTL (Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies) scheme until such time it is merged with Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme. For this purpose, the government has approved adhoc allocation of funds of Rs 7,398 crore for FY21 for issuance of duty credit scrips under RoSCTL.

Further, in order to boost exports in manmade fibre sector, the government has removed anti-dumping duty on PTA (Purified Terephtallic Acid), a key raw material for the manufacture of MMF fibre and yarn. Irani adds the National Textile Corporation (NTC) has been incurring operational losses since 2006- 2007 due to high input costs, high worker turnover, wage cost and less market competitiveness, among other reasons. She further said that despite infusion of huge funds, the corporation has not been operationally profitable

Under a revival scheme, the corporation spent Rs 5,500 crore to meet its various expenses like clearing up outstanding statutory dues, One Time Settlements (OTS) with Moreover, it spent an amount of Rs 1646.07 crore on modernization of its mills under the revival scheme.