Recently, the Ministry of Textiles and Jute, GOB has published Textile Policy, 2017 with a mission and vision to develop the textile sector for the future.
The policy is the foremost guideline for any organization, industry or sector as it is the principles through which an entity is directed. The strategies and plans are always based on internal and government policies. The development of any industrial sector is also reliant on the appropriateness of the concerned policies, no doubt. So, the policy is a vital issue when forecasting the future of our textile sector as well.
This article is an attempt to analyze the ins and outs of the published Textile Policy-2017 and forecast the scenario of the textile sector in the upcoming days.
Mission and Vision
The new Textile Policy-2017 has been approved by the ministry of Jute and Textiles, GOB at a ministerial meeting held on 13th February, 2017. The vision of the policy is to build a strong and internationally competitive textile and apparel industry. The mission of the policy is stated as productivity improvement, employment generation and surge in export and foreign investment to ensure a safe and eco-friendly textile and apparel sector.
To reach the mission stated in the policy it has stated some specific goals which are depicted below for the readers.
Goal of Textile Policy, 2017
- To take necessary steps to build the textile and apparel sector as an employment-generating sector.
- Strengthening the primary textile sector to fulfil the local demand for textiles and to promote a medium and high value-added export-oriented garments industry.
- To increase government assistance and incentives for the diversified products manufacturing and exporting textile factories.
- To make strategic development planning for each sub-sector like spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing-printing-finishing, hosiery, home textiles, terry-towel, export-oriented RMG, handloom sector, silk industry etc. for the sustainable development of the primary textile sector.
- To emphasize on market diversification by acquiring duty-free market access, most favoured nation status and by national treatment in different countries.
- To make short-term, mid-term and long-term strategic plans to create a knowledgeable and skilled manpower base for the installation and operation of value-added products manufacturing textile industries. To establish universities, colleges, vocational schools and training institutes in order to extend training and development in the sub-sectors of textiles and apparel to fulfil the skill gap in the sector.
- To promote waste management technologies in the polluting and waste-generating industries; especially to take necessary steps to build Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) in the dyeing, printing and washing industries in order to check water pollution. Also to strengthen the Department of Textiles’ monitoring cell to improve law enforcement.
- To promote local fashion industries in order to develop the quality and design of the local garments designers and producers for the local consumers.
- To assist private firms with infrastructural development, research and development and the usage of IT in the textile and apparel industries.
- Emphasize on the production and marketing of high value added products.
- To establish a Textile Industrial Park and make a strong multi-fibre base.
- To integrate the local government concerns with the local entrepreneurs for effective business growth.
- To make a strong manpower base for fashion design, specially designed clothes and allied sectors of RMG.
- Take necessary steps to attract foreign direct investment in the textile and apparel sector.
- To promote design and fashion institutes to make their own fashion brands in the international market.
- Establishment of compliance issues in the factories according to the demand of international buyers.
Analysis of the Textile policy, 2017
The lack of a comprehensive policy and roadmap for the development of the textile and apparel sector of Bangladesh has been a great setback for a long. There have been policies from different concerned ministries and associations but the cohesion between them was always absent. Also, the implementation part was poor.
The Textile Policy-2017 is to provide proper guidelines and security to the textile and apparel industry. The mission and vision of the policy is to build an internationally competitive textile industry that will generate more employment, productivity and more exports. But the matter of remorse is that the policy is nothing exciting but a continuation work of the ministry as there is nothing new or innovative in the policy when compared to the policy that was published in 2015. However, there are some initiatives stated that are to be taken for the development of the different sub-sectors of the textiles and apparel industry which can be analyzed. The gist of such initiatives is stated here in a table.
Analytic Facts and Critic
The Textile Policy-2017 has described all the initiatives that the government want to undertake to fulfil the vision of the policy which is to build a strong and internationally competitive textile and apparel industry. However, there is no indication in the policy on how things will be done, who is responsible for doing them and when to take the initiative. The same thing can be viewed in the policy published in 2015 or in the previous years as there was no specific indication on how the policy will be implemented.
As long as the textile industry is concerned the biggest prevailing problem today is the lack of gas and electricity which is directly hindering the expansion of our primary textile sector. The policy has promised to improve the power crisis issue but there is no strategic time frame announced so that the investors can plan accordingly. There must be a short-term, mid-term and long-term design of solutions so that the business can allocate its money and resources accordingly.
The backward linkage industry for the woven garments industry is still weak which results in the draining of huge foreign currency, extended lead time and a huge business and employment opportunity. The policy says about initiatives to improve the quality and productivity of the weaving industries but there is no specific target or plan on how to do it. Emphasizing on denim and linen production will be given which is the fastest-growing industry in the country right now.
Knitting industries are quite self-sufficient as long as the low-end garment is concerned. That is why the policy has provisions for making value-added products and establishing a ‘Knit village’ to help gain productivity.
The wet processing industries are also suffering from low investment and power crises. Provisions for technological development is there in the policy but there is no specific guideline on how to do it. The expansion of all the primary sub-sectors is now completely dependent on the gas and power supply from the government.
Emphasis has been given to textile and apparel education and training in the policy in order to improve the quality of the institutes, colleges and universities to build a strong and skilled manpower base. More encouragement and assistance will be provided to the research and development activities for value addition and product diversification.
In a nutshell, the policy is a comprehensive manuscript addressing the prevailing problem of the textile and apparel sector with all the sub-sectors and the initiatives that are planned to be taken in the future. But as there is no specific time span or implementation strategy mentioned, the important thing is to see how the government reacts to fulfil the vision and missions of the Textile Policy-2017.
However, the policy does have a provision to form an advisory committee teamed with ministers, state ministers and secretaries of the concerned departments, heads of associations and respective development boards, planning department, education, environment and agriculture departments etc. for the implementation of the provisions described in the policy. The committee is to sit every six months to develop strategy and field-level planning with the respective authorities to implement the things.
