The Union Ministry of Textiles urged to facilitate opening of common selling offices or facilitation centres in China to encourage close interaction among Indian industrialists and prevent buyers exploiting them, said Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) secretary D Prabhu Dhamodharan in a memorandum to the Ministry Secretary S K Panda.

Common selling centres were necessary as Chinese yarn buyers and traders, as a cartel, have been crushing Indian yarn manufacturers in recent times. To counter them and this would strengthen the Indian buyers' position with constant market intelligence.

As industry stakeholders would bear all expenses, the Ministry, has only to facilitate it. As the first step, should organise meetings of yarn and cloth manufactures in the South and North separately. In the South, the ITF itself could take the lead in organising the event. The secretaries and joint secretaries concerned should also participate in the meeting and guide the industry, he added.

He also said that instead of waiting for mega trade agreements to be signed, the Ministry should initiate textile-specific agreements quickly for untapped markets. A strong recommendation to Commerce Ministry is necessary to expedite the process, he said.

Another point made in the memorandum is rationalisation of duties on man-made fibre for Indian products to compete in the international market.

He also added that interest subvention for export of yarn and fabrics will boost exports and support the domestic market.

According to Prabhu Dhamodharan, this is the only way to achieve the targeted growth in the export market. Continuous decrease in export of MMF goods and increase in imports of MMF-based products are clear indications of the international trend.