FAISALABAD: All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, (APTPMA) thanked the PM Imran Khan for approving a progressive and innovative textile policy 2020-25 and congratulated Advisor for Commerce & Investment Abdul Razak Dawood and Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh on approval of the five year textile policy despite enormous odds, Covid-19 pandemic, and resource constraint, which is a healthy augury for textile industry of Pakistan and said it is a right step in the right direction.
The policy is textile-friendly, investment-friendly, and export-oriented, and opined that the incentives being given by the Govt to boost the textile industry will prove beneficial for all textile industrial investment. It will also be helpful for our domestic and export industry and reduce cost of production for whole of the textile industry which will enable us to boost our export drive and strengthen our business in international markets.
This was learnt through a Press Release issued by the APTPMA H.O. Secretariat, Faisalabad. Lauding on the salient features envisaged in the new Textile Policy, the APTPMA Chairman, Zulfiqar Ali Chaudhry and Senior Vice Chairman, Rehan Ashraf spelt out these measures as under: In the policy, it has been proposed to provide electricity at 7.5 cents instead of 9 cent for the textile sector, followed by RLNG at $6.5 per mmbtu and domestic produced gas at Rs786 per mmbtu. The policy aims to reduce the input cost of textile and clothing sector and make it competitive with the regional players.
The proposed package carries special duty-drawback rates, rationalisation of duty on textile value chain and subsidy on long-term loans and development subsidies. The focus of the policy is to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the textile sectors.
The APTPMA office-bearers said that prior to its final approval by the cabinet it must be ensured that incentives/relief being announced in the policy should cover all indirect and direct exporters and we assures the government that implementation of the textile policy in letter and spirit will ensure the doubling of textile exports from $ 13 billion to $ 26 billion in next five years.
He said that now all textile sectors should pay their all attention to improve their production and export to remove unemployment and uncertainty from our country. Concluding, APTPMA Chief once again thanked PM Imran Khan and his team on approval of the textile policy and said that the forthcoming Textile Policy could prove beneficial and meaningful if only its stipulations are spelt into action in letter and spirit by all the stake holders.-PR
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020