According to the newspaper reports, the textile industry is utilizing only 70 percent of its production capacity as six major sub-sectors have already been closed down and more are in line due to persistent energy crisis, high cost of doing business and inconsistency in government policies. It is to be noted that 30 percent production loss means the country is incurring an annual loss of around $3.5 billion in its exports. All-Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman Tariq Saud says that the country’s share in the international market has reduced from 2.2 percent in 2006 to 1.8 percent in 2013 whereas the share of regional competitors, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has increased by 75 percent from 1.9 percent to 3.3 percent in international market in seven years. Saud says that if this situation is allowed to continue, Pakistan will soon be excluded from the club of the textile exporting countries.
Meanwhile, he says that the imported cloth has penetrated the domestic market as the foreign items are dumped in the country due to low customs duties and taxes. A glaring example is the import and export of yarn which can be imported to Pakistan from India by paying only five percent customs duty while India has blocked the import by imposing 28 percent customs duty on the Pakistani yarn. The result is the closure of the textile mills in Pakistan as it cannot compete with Indian textile industry. India has recently introduced the Technology Up-gradation Fund Scheme to promote the textile industry and is also setting up seven textile parks in Rajasthan under its scheme for integrated textile parks with around over $ 600 million investment. In contrast, the Pakistani businessmen are still looking toward the government to announced Textile Policy for 2014-19.
The decreasing share of Pakistani textile in the global market should be a point to ponder for the country’s policymakers and they should have a look over the textile policies of India, Bangladesh and China which have recorded a significant progress in this sector despite facing hostile climate for cotton yield. Many Asian nations import Pakistani cotton and turn it into value added goods earning billions of dollars annually on the basis of technology, but we are still reeling under energy crisis, law and order and mismanagement. The government should also set up textile parks in cotton belt in collaboration with world renowned companies with tax relief. The introduction of “make in Pakistan” scheme is the need of the hour.
