Ease norms, CM Stalin writes to Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin urged the Union Textiles Piyush Goel to issue necessary directives to the officials in the Ministry of Textiles and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to insist on the Quality Control Orders (QCO) for importing viscose and polyester fibre only after the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) disposed of all pending applications filed by the importers seeking BIS certification to comply with QCOs.
In a letter to Goel on Saturday, Stalin sought the intervention of the Union Minister in the issue that was affecting the textile industry and also wanted to grant an exemption for filament yarn and artificial fibres, including bamboo fibres not manufactured in India from QCO, imposed by the Government.
The QCOs issued by the Ministry of Textiles regarding Viscose Staple Fibre were granted for only one month and then extended by two months to make it effective from 29th March 2023, he said. Similarly, the Polyester Stable Fibre QCO had been made effective from 3rd April 2023 by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. In respect of Polyester fully drawn yarn (FDY), Polyester Partially Oriented yarn (POY), Polyester Industrial Yarn (IDY), and 100% Polyester Spun Grey and white yarn, QCOs would come into effect from 3rd July 2023, he said.
‘As you are aware, fashion cycles are planned over six months in advance, and orders to source the raw material are placed accordingly. Therefore, these implementation deadlines may hamper several ongoing processes. Further, within Viscose and Polyester yarns, innovation of novel and sustainable fibres possessing unique characteristics is possible due to continuous R&D. General QCOs may not become applicable to such fibres. In the case of Viscose Fibre, though the BIS standard is available for typical Viscose Fibre, there is no BIS Standard specifically designed for Bamboo Viscose Fibre which is in great demand in the export market because of its anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties,’ Stalin said.
The industry had also represented that many applications from foreign suppliers were pending inspection and approval by BIS, which can be done only after BIS officials visited the production facilities of such applicants in their respective countries. Even if these suppliers conformed to the QCOs norms, importing such fibres could only be effected once the BIS officials completed all the formalities and approved the applications.
‘Under the circumstances, many textile fabric and garment manufacturers who have placed orders for such fibres and whose shipment is in transit will likely suffer substantial business losses. The delay in the import of required quality fibres would force the domestic manufacturers of value-added products to compromise on the quality and thereby lose the business in the long run,’ he said.
To protect the industry’s interest sufficient time should be provided to QCOs and it was pertinent to note that for MSME units, which dominated the textile sector, establishing testing infrastructure to obtain BIS certification was cost-intensive and not viable, he said.
