The Indian textile industry is facing hurdle on account of differential taxation, rising energy cost, lop-sided fibre and trade policy. And this is at a time when the global demand for fibre – both cotton and MMF (man-made fibre) is on the rise.

Stakeholders have sought a cut in the excise and import duty structure for synthetic fibre to deal with the trend. It wants the excise duty to be lowered from the prevailing 13 percent to 4 - 5 per cent and the import duty from 28 percent to 2 - 3 percent.

The shift in the preference of fabric material to man-made fibre seems to have an impact on the Indian textile sector.

The Secretary of Texpreneurs Forum D Prabhu said that competing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh surpassed India in apparel exports because of their friendly duty structure. In fact, there is no domestic production of cotton, polyester or viscose wool or even silk in both these countries.

The Forum is pleading for a fibre policy that would make the spinning sector in India more viable and capable of spinning varied yarn.

Although fibre demand is on the rise globally, the share of cotton in the overall demand has seen a downward trend since the 90s from around 50 percent to about 30 percent at present.