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he landslide victory of Bhar- Industry pinning hopes
tiya Janata Party and its al-
lies under the charismatic
leadership Narendra Modi in
T the general elections of 2019 on revival
in India has raised concerns about the
growing caste polarization and ideologi-
cal extremes but in the same breath, it
has raised the hope of revival of the Indi- The landslide victory of BJP and its allies under the leadership
an economy that has been battling with Narendra Modi in the general elections of 2019 has raised hopes of
sluggish demand, low capital formation revival of the Indian economy, reports KOMAL AMIT GERA
and freeze on the flow of credit.
With 353 Lok Sabha seats in its basket, of GST, concessional rate of Income Tax needed to safeguard trade in the country
the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) for traders, Declaration of E-Commerce which will help in revenue generation to
is now saddled with higher expectations Policy which should be applicable on the government as well”.
especially on the economic front. domestic players as well, abolition of The garment exporters from India
The senior officials in the core min- archaic Acts governing trade , instead of are also sanguine over the spectacu-
istries at the Government of India have several licenses only one license for con- lar mandate to NDA and are awaiting
reportedly indicated that the central ducting business activities, formation of long awaited reforms on export front. A.
government is ready with a blueprint to a Ministry of Internal Trade, promotion Shaktivel, President of Tirupur Export-
boost consumption demand and stimu- of digital payments and incentives to be ers Association told that Indian garment
late higher private investment by prun- given on usage of digital payments, sub- exports have been facing tough competi-
ing the cost of capital. sidy to traders for computerization of tion from countries like Bangladesh, Vi-
Having suffered a mighty blow of de- existing business format, Infrastructural etnam and Cambodia.The annual export
monetization and a hasty GST rollout, developments of commercial markets earnings from garments stand at approx-
in the prevailing slowdown in demand in the country and setting up of Special imately $17 billion in India. Bangladesh is
during the last few years; the trade and Trade Zones . We however assure our full ranked higher with $37 billion of annual
industry is keen to see the incorporation support to the Government in overall garment exports. Vietnam with $27 bil-
of their demands in the revised policy change of trade in India but Government lion also ahead of us and Cambodia earns
framework of second tenure of NDA-II. should draw policies and steps with our close to $11 billion from exports of ready-
The incumbent regime has bounced back consultation. We are for modernization made garments. Considering the poten-
with a stronger mandate than its last in- of Indian trade and adoption of fair and tial of Indian garment industry and avail-
nings, so the speedy implementation of better trade practices.We see trade in ability of raw material and manpower in
proposed reforms is expected by the cor- a good position and it is the right time India, our government should support
porate India. when Government should keep domes- this industry to compete in global arena.
The full budget for 2019-2020 is ex- tic trade on its priority and if due steps He added that Duty Free Agreement
pected to include the schemes for the are taken we are competent to stand with Europe and United Kingdom can
trade and industry proposed and prom- in global competition. Policies should help spur the industry. Comprehensive
ised in the election manifesto of BJP. be made to encourage domestic small Economic Partnership Agreement with
Praveen Khandelwal, National Sec- manufacturing and trade entities so that Australia and Canada is also one of the
retary General of Confederation of All Indian exporters could make globally demands of the industry. The scope of
India Traders apprised Tehelka about the competitive export items to fetch foreign interest subvention of 3 per cent should
expectations of traders across India from exchange for the country. We welcome also be expanded. He stressed that most
the new government. He told that the foreign investments but it should be of the raw material used by the garment
first priority of the government should envisaged to strengthen our trade and units is procured from domestic market.
be to implement immediately the prom- manufacturing sector. At the same time Infusion of energy in garment industry
ises made in manifesto of BJP which in- the government has to guard domestic by fresh policy initiative will have a trick-
clude National Traders Welfare Board, trade and small manufacturing against ledown effect on the agriculture sector
National Policy for Retail Trade, Pension foreign onslaughts. If hand-holding is that is in distress. Cotton is the major
to traders above age of 60 years, Acciden- done properly, India stands bright chanc- input for garment sector and stability
tal Insurance of Rs 10 lakh for GST reg- es in global scenario. We also expect the in demand of cotton will help in better
istered traders, Merchant Credit Card on government to take steps to restrict im- remuneration to the farmers. As farm
pattern of Kisan Credit Card. ports from China as it has damaged a lot distress is also on government agenda,
He added, “Besides these promises the to our trade and small manufacturing. we hope to see policies conducive for the
major focus should be on simplification Not casual but an aggressive approach is growth of garment exports.

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