Reports

A failure to find answers to domestic policy shortcomings that are responsible for today's labour market problems at the local levels could lead to global ramifications, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has warned. Governments will therefore need to meet, talk and negotiate, and arrive at cooperative “win-win” approaches to the opportunities, as well as the challenges, of ongoing global economic change, the WTO's World Trade Report 2017: Trade, technology and jobs has remarked. The 2017 World...

The silver lining that emanated from Gandhinagar over three gloomy, rain-drenched days was as far-reaching as it was clear. The scale of the Textiles India 2017 event, the inauguration by the Prime Minister himself, the ubiquitous presence of a contingent of high-profile Union ministers, and the infectious atmosphere prevailing over the three-day gathering at the sprawling exhibition complex in the Gujarat capital—all point to the textiles and apparel industry being set to get a fillip from the...

Conspiracy theories abounded at the peak of the dal crisis, not all of which were entirely unfounded. Everyone knew pulses were being hoarded, but no one had a clue how this was affecting the entire trade and the market. Could hoarding alone lead to such a shortage that prices would skyrocket so much? Unless, of course, this was being done in a concerted manner. And if at all bigger games were at play, then how did the stage-managed scarcity play out? The income tax (I-T) department’s appraisal...

When dal prices kept rising through the early summer of 2015, those were initially seen as a natural fallout of adverse weather conditions. But once the monsoons subsided, the prices went through the roof, throwing life out of gear. That’s when dal prices hit the headlines in newspapers and dominated discussion on prime time news. The Union government swung into action—first by cracking down on hoarders and announcing that it would import more pulses, and then by increasing the minimum support...

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is at long last all set to be rolled out from July 1, 2017. What was once much-awaited will now be a financial reality, and GST will be the way forward. There is almost near-unanimity among various sectors of the Indian textiles and apparel industry that GST will be beneficial in the long run, though there are differences of opinion and uncertainty over finer points. The textiles and apparel industry had to wait for close to two weeks after the GST Council on May...

Of all resources that the textiles and apparel industry needs to transform fibre into fashion, water is arguably the most precious and increasingly becoming scarce. It was only natural that the focus of the annual sustainable textiles summit, Planet Textiles, this year was water. From the issue of availability to judicious use of the scarce resource and the problem of wastewater pollution, it was an array of water-related subjects that dominated the one-day event in Bengaluru on May 24. Jointly...

The Fabric of Change initiative of Ashoka and the C&A Foundation is set for a scale-up with the two organisations launching a new €250,000 Scaling Impact Fund as part of their joint venture supporting social innovation in the apparel industry. The announcement came in the run-up to the Fabric of Change Globalizer Summit organised in Bengaluru on Friday. "The awards will focus on the newly crafted strategies and the way forward rather than past achievements. This is an exploratory process that...

There's a new eco-friendly fibre on the anvil—Austrian speciality fibre-maker Lenzing will soon be launching EcoVero, a viscose with the lowest environmental impact in the industry. This, Lenzing believes, will set a new industry-wide benchmark in the sustainability of viscose fibres. According to Robert van de Kerkhof, chief commercial officer and a board member at Lenzing, the new viscose fibre would be based on three pillars: use of sustainable wood resources, a ecological production process...

About 96 per cent of MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) in the country are likely to benefit from the 25 per cent cut in corporate tax rate for MSMEs having revenues less than Rs50 crore. Among others, this cut is likely to affect the textiles and apparel industry considerably, since the backbone of this industry is made up MSMEs. This was also the segment reported to have been the worst-hit sectors of the economy due to the November 2016 demonetisation. The announcement was made by...

On the face of it, the news about the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) signing a pact to buy a stake in the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) may seem to be that of a routine merger-buyout deal. Only, that it’s not business as usual. In fact, it is a classic case of a cash-rich Maharatna enterprise being made to subsidise the financial misadventures of a company that is steeped in debt. Suspicion that ONGC would have to bail out GSPC surfaced during the Budget session of...