Coimbatore : With textile industry not an exception from the economy slow down, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) is convening a meeting of all the industry stakeholders to get an on hand information about the needs and requirements, to be forwarded to the Centre.

The meeting scheduled for September 26 is convened, following the suggestion by Finance Minister, Nirmala Seetharaman, as the ministry was receiving many demands and requests on policy measures from different segment of
textile industry, CITI Chairman, T Rajkumar told reporters here Monday.

Though the industry bodies hailed financial measures to boost the economy, the Government should come out with stimulus policy measures to revive the industry from the recession, he said.

Despite the recent measures, the textile industry continued to suffer due to various external factors and the spinning segment is the worst affected as the cotton yarn export has declined over 35 per cent during April-August this year, he said.

Due to this negative growth, Indian textile and clothing industry, which was the second largest exporters in the world during 2017, has slipped to fifth position due to the global recession, TEXPROCIL chairman, Dr K V Srinivasan said.

The feedback from all the stake holders will be compiled and submitted to the Government before October 15, Rajkumar said.

Certain measures are urgently required to revive the ailing textile industry, make it globally competitive, sustain the jobs of millions of people across the country and achieve its potential growth rate, they said.

Highlighting the problems, Rajkumar said that the industry was facing severe liquidity crisis mainly due to huge accumulation of Government dues especially Technology Upgradation Scheme subsidies to the tune of Rs.12,000 crore.

Besides, the government should extend one-time debt restructuring of existing loans of the textile and clothing sectors on the similar lines as given to MSMEs, Rajkumar said.