Apparel Online India Magazine October 1st Issue 2018 | Page 38

INDUSTRY LIVE
With top export houses keen on investing,
Odisha gears up for massive industrial growth
India’s No. 1 apparel export
house Shahi Exports’ MD
Harish Ahuja, who owns nearly
50 garment factories across
India, recently addressed an
event in Delhi, in the presence of
Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik and many other well-
known industrialists of India. The
confidence and appreciation about
Odisha in Harish’s words were
really impressive. “In 2014, Shahi
Exports was invited to set up a
unit in Odisha. Within a month
of our first meeting, we were
allotted land and in August 2015,
we set up our unit. Encouraged
by the facilitation support, we are
expanding and have employed over
2,300 people already,” said Harish.
Later talking to Apparel Online,
Harish told that in long run they
have plans to move factories from
major cities in NCR to smaller
towns where more workers are
available. More than 10,000 Odisha
workers are working in Shahi
factories in and around Bangalore
and few other such apparel
manufacturing hubs. As Shahi
Exports is expanding in Odisha, the
same trained workers do want to
settle in their own state and have
the comfort of working in their
same company and profile as well.
Not only Shahi, other exports
and apparel manufacturing
The second edition of the
state’s flagship biennial
global investors’ meet
‘Make in Odisha’ is
scheduled for November
11 to 15 in Bhubaneswar
and to make it a
successful and grand
event, the state organised
investors’ meet in cities
like Mumbai...
Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha
companies are also making fresh
investments in Odisha, and many
other industries are geared up
and are investing there. The State
Government is fully charged up
to support the industry and apart
from favourable policies, through
continuous meeting and events, it
is also motivating the industry to
come to Odisha. with the industrialists and invited
them to start or to increase their
operation in the state. The CM in
Delhi launched the ‘Invest Odisha’
website (www.investodisha.gov.
in) a user-friendly portal where
investors can find information
related to policy, cost-of-doing-
business, and infrastructure – all
at one place.
The second edition of the
state’s flagship biennial global
investors’ meet ‘Make in Odisha’
is scheduled for November 11 to
15 in Bhubaneswar and to make
it a successful and grand event,
the state organised investors’
meet in cities like Mumbai and
New Delhi where the state’s Chief
Minister Patnaik himself met ASSOCHAM has ranked Odisha
as the No. 1 state in terms of
investment implementation rate
and the state is consistently ranked
amongst the top 3 states in terms of
live manufacturing investments in
India. The state’s port capacity has
increased ten times to 190 million
metric tonnes at present and
power generation has increased
more than three times, while
road network has expanded by
over 50 per cent. Some of the
interesting initiatives in textile
and apparel industry in the state
include Indian Oil Corporation’s
upcoming textile park where a
Rs. 1,000 crore polyester staple
fibre (PSF) unit will be set up.
The state is seeing World Bank’s
support in textiles. The Tirupur
Exporters’ Association (TEA) is
also exploring possibilities to set
up garmenting units in the state
and is positive about the state’s
policies and support. The State
Government is also working
to establishing a Yarn Bank
along with Apparel Incubation
Centre at National Institute of
Fashion Technology (NIFT),
Bhubaneswar, to mention a few.
“With Odisha Government’s
vision and guidance, the garment
industry will be able to progress
and reach great heights,” added
Harish. Other stalwarts from
various sectors like Naveen
Jindal, Chairman, Jindal Steel
and Power Limited; Ritesh
Agarwal, Founder, OYO Rooms;
Marc Hoffmann, MD & CEO,
SMS Group India, who also
addressed the investor meet in
Delhi, echoed similar sentiments
about the opportunities for their
industries in Odisha.
TEA urges Centre to extend exemption
on IGST payment
Tirupur Exporters’ Association
(TEA) has requested the
Central Government to extend
exemption from the payment
of IGST (Integrated Goods and
Service Tax) while importing
machinery under EPCG scheme,
which is currently valid till
the end of this month. Raja M
Shanmugham, President, TEA
38 Apparel Online India |
marked out that if the exemption
is not extended, exporting units
will come under the additional
burden of paying IGST. “Upfront
payment of IGST will affect the
working capital of the exporting
units as the refunds of GST
through ITC refund route will
take time to reach the hands
of the exporter,” the President
added. The textile and apparel
body elucidated that since over
80 per cent of the exporting
units are MSMEs (Micro Small
and Medium Enterprises), it is
difficult for them to meet their
financial requirements, which
eventually affects their day-to-
day operations. Raja added that
constant modernisation is the
OCTOBER 1-15, 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
need of the hour for the apparel
exporting units, as nowadays the
buyers are demanding consistent
quality and installation of state-
of-the-art machinery. Notably,
TEA’s President said that he
has sent letters to the Central
Government urging it to extend
the IGST payment exemption on
an urgent basis.