Budget 2019-20: A Confusing Cocktail For Textile Industry?

The last few months have been quite pensive for those who belong to the textile and apparel industry. It all began during the month of February 2019 when the then Finance Minister Piyush Goyal came up with the interim budget.

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His stand on the textile industry was quite discouraging as he proposed a budgetary allocation of Rs 5831.48 crores which is 16.01 percent lower than the current fiscal. This had evoked a strong response from the textile fraternity and they were hoping things to change when the actual budget came in. Things changed and Goyal’s place was taken by Nirmala Sitharaman who was the Union Defence Minister earlier. At the outset, Sitharaman has actualized the interim budget made by Goyal albeit with few changes and amendments here and there. So, what exactly is the situation with the textile industry?

Well, it appears that Government of India and the honorable Finance Minister has offered a cocktail to the textile and apparel segment which is rather confusing. The experts of this industry are now trying to figure out what best can be made out of the situation. For starters, the government has not taken any initiative towards pushing the two schemes that can boost the business. They are Textile Infrastructure Programmes and Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.