LAHORE: The textile industrialists have criticised the government for delaying textile policy 2014-19 and said that the delay will affect the industry and export.
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman SM Tanveer, during a joint press conference along with Gohar Ejaz, said that the government has no interest in promoting industry as it is delaying textile policy despite the lapse of more than eight months.
He said delay in announcement of textile policy 2014-19 further suggests that the present government is not different from the previous one, which had allocated Rs180 billion in Textile Policy 2009-14 whereas disbursed only Rs28 billion which is 15% lower of the allocation’ he added.
He said both India and Bangladesh announced their textile policies and registered 2008-2013 a growth of 94% and 160% respectively in exports against merely 22% of Pakistan during 2009-14. The world textile exports also grew by 45% on an average during the same period, he said.
Dubbing the federal textile ministry as “toothless” and “failed” ministry, he said an undue delay in announcement of textile policy 2014-19 has already left Pakistan far behind against the region counterparts, he added. He said today 30% of the industry capacity is non-operational, exports are stagnant and no new investment has taken place since 2006.
According to him, the proposed textile policy for 2014-19 speaks about allocation of Rs60 billion, which is a drop in the ocean and government should enhance it to Rs200 billion at least.
He said the goals set in the proposed textile policy 2014-19, double textile exports, $1 billion investment per annum, employment creation, raw material availability of both cotton and man-made fiber are not possible to meet with such a meagre allocation.
Gohar Ejaz said the overloaded subsidies for textile industry in India has made Pakistan’s textile industry uncompetitive. Pakistan’s flagship textile industry is facing the fate of national hockey team due to inattentive attitude of the government.
He said last textile policy, which expired on June 30, last year, failed to reach the envisaged textile exports target of $25 billion, and the exports merely remained at a level of around $13.5 billion only.
