The Commerce Ministry will soon unveil a strategy paper on ways to enhance competitiveness of textile exports. The issue was recently discussed in a meeting in the ministry.

"Competitiveness of Indian textiles exports is going down. Countries including Sri Lanka and Turkey are more competitive in the sector. The ministry is considering to bring out its own strategy paper for the sector," a senior official in the ministry said.

Textiles Ministry, too, is in the process of rolling out a National Textiles Policy, which aims to achieve USD 300 billion exports by 2024-25 and envisages creation of additional 35 million jobs.

The ministry's move, to bring out the strategy paper, assumes significance as the country's exports are in the negative zone since December 2014. Textiles exports account for over 10 per cent in the total outbound shipments and the ministry is taking every step to boost the shipments.

Falling for the third straight month, exports declined steeply by over 15 per cent to USD 21.54 billion in February. India's cotton exports have declined as its biggest market China had changed its policy on cotton imports.

According to a report, India -- the world's second-biggest producer of cotton is likely to export 7.69 million bales of the fibre in 2014-15 marketing year (August-July), down by 35 per cent from last year due to sluggish demand from China.

The government is expected to announce some incentives for the textiles sector in the foreign trade policy, which is expected to be unveiled in the second week of next month. In February, textiles exports grew by about 9 per cent to USD 1.53 billion.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com