The textiles industry has welcomed the appointment of Smriti Irani as the Union Textiles Minister in the new Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. During her previous tenure as the Textiles Minister, Irani was instrumental in bringing Apparel and Made up Sector Special Package to help the textile sector and stabilise the exports. Irani took oath as a Minister with Cabinet rank along with the Prime Minister and other Ministers at a ceremony held in Rashtrapati Bhavan. She has been allotted portfolios of two Ministries—textiles; and women and child development.
According to Rahul Mehta, President, The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India, “I am absolutely delighted at the news as Irani was one of the few Ministers we have had who understood the importance of the domestic Sector. CMAI welcomes her once again and looks forward to working closely with her in the coming years for the furtherance of the garment industry.”
Listing the priorities for the new Textiles Minister in the coming months, Mehta said that Irani must take forward the several projects she initiated in the last term such as market study, size india, taking handloom to modern retail, and Samarth amongst others. “She also needs to attend to some of the areas which need tweaking like the GST, Packaged Commodities Act, imports from Bangladesh, etc.” Delighted about continuation of Irani as the Minister of textiles, Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) convenor Prabhu Dhamodharan said the focus should be on bringing some fundamental changes in few important policies to help exports to grow.
Mentioning that the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA) would extend full support and cooperation to the Textiles Minister, TEA President Raja M Shanmugham said the Union Minister should address the issues like ATUFS pending claims, simplification of ATUFS guidelines, procedural issues in getting ROSCTL benefit, signing of free trade agreements with the EU and the UK, CECA with Australia, and CEPA with Canada.
