In the post-Covid-19 lockdown scenario, the demands for various textiles and clothing products have increased steeply. India, being one of the successful countries in alleviating Covid-19 pandemic, textile and clothing sector could get enormous opportunities immediately after the lockdown from all over the world. The Aatma Nirbhar Bharat relief measures have greatly helped the textile industry to recover from the unforeseen recession on a fast track. Since the inventory pipeline got drained out during and immediately after the Covid-19 lockdown period, it has caused a demand supply mismatch in the textile value chain. The steep increases in the raw material and various other input costs to the tune of 20 to 30 percent have made the intermediary products expensive, causing difficulties for the finished product manufacturers to meet their long-term commitments. Hence, the downstream sectors of the textile value chain have been demanding for stability in the yarn prices. However, mainly due to the high volatility in the raw material prices, the spinning sector at times has not been able to bring about stability in the yarn prices. Though, the volume of yarn export continues to remain much lower than the normal export levels, the downstream sectors have reported about shortage of yarn supplies.
Against this background, the National Committee on Textiles & Clothing (NCTC) convened a meeting of all the stakeholders across the textile value chain on 12th March 2021 and launched a “Helpline Portal” i.e., http://citiindia.org/yarn-form/form/form.php, at Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), being one of the apex industry bodies for the textile value chain and also coordinating in this regard with various Textile Associations across the country.
Rajkumar, Coordinator, NCTC and Chairman of CITI, has stated that NCTC has launched a “Helpline Portal” so that the fabric manufacturers having yarn shortage and also reporting irregular supply of yarn can post the details 24 x 7 on CITI’s dedicated web portal i.e., http://citiindia.org/yarn-form/form/form.php, designed for the purpose. He said that CITI Secretariat would also pass on the information to the respective Textile Associations / Export Promotion Councils to advise their members to post the details of non-availability/short supplies of Yarn so as to find solutions on a “here and now basis”. T. Rajkumar also stated that since the proposed system would enable direct buyer-seller contact, it would also curb speculations, hoardings, etc., thereby speedily resolving the above issue. He has also appealed to all the stakeholders in the textile value chain to take advantage of the online service system and find solutions in a constructive manner. T. Rajkumar has also appealed to the spinning mills to extend their full cooperation to the downstream sectors by honouring their commitments at the committed price and also make efforts to maintain stability in the yarn prices.
