The Planning Commission has opposed direct incentives laden financial relief package for the textile industry and instead worked out an alternative plan based on a 3-pronged strategy for its revival.
It included setting-up of modern training facilities in major cities for providing latest and modern technical know how to the textile industry and making its workforce productive, enhancement of the industrialists' managerial skill for better value addition for textile products and sell them in the international market at higher prices. The quality and more production to compete with the regional players such as China, Bangladesh, India and others is also the focal point of the new strategy.
The projects will be financed from Rs 500 million allocated in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for enhancing industrial base in Pakistan. The Planning Commission and the Ministry of Textile are working closely for implementing the new strategy effectively and get the ultimate goals.
They held a series of meetings with the textile sector's stakeholders and convey them in clear terms that the government was not considering any financial incentives for textile industry to help overcome its weaknesses and reassert itself in global market to get reasonable share.
The policy makers have reached to the conclusion that injecting direct money as package for textile industry was mere waste of public money as the end result of many relief packages given to it in the past was almost zero. Any such incentive can hardly bring good out of it in the future.
As the global industry goes hi tech Pakistan's textile industry is on the back foot in its performance. Its share in exports is shrinking for the last few years. It is a cause of concern for the policy makers. On the demand of the industry, the government gave several relief packages to the textile industry. But it proved artificial crutches as textile industry kept on loosing its share in the international market.
Private sector did not make investment for up-gradation of the textile industry. It by and large became habitual for living on subsidies or packages of billions of rupees without showing any positive outcome. Over the years poor performance made the policy makers feel that instead adding more in subsidies the government should provide infrastructure and technology based support for making textile industry efficient and result oriented for the future.