In the post-COVID-19 lockdown
scenario, the demand 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 Aatmanirbhar 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 increase in the raw material and various
other input costs to the tune of 20 to 30 per cent 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 – 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
T. 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.
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.