NEW DELHI, MAY 22: The commerce ministry has sought to shift the blame on the dismal export performance in 1996-97 on the textiles ministry. Commerce secretary PP Prabhu, at a recent meeting in Delhi, is believed to have held the textiles ministry partly responsible for the measly export growth of 4.1 per cent in 1996-97 over the last year.

The meeting, presided over by commerce minister BB Ramaiah, was called to discern the views of export promotion councils and commodity boards on how to achieve a higher export growth in 1997-98.

Textiles secretary Prabhat Kumar, who was also present, said textiles exports, including jute and coir, had crossed the target of $11.7 billion in 1996-97, posting a growth rate of 10.4 per cent over the last year.

Textiles minister JL Jalappa and Prabhat Kumar, when contacted, refused to comment on Prabhu's remarks.

They were disappointed that the commerce secretary was trying to shift the blame for the poor export showing on the textiles ministry, ministry sources said. They said that the export growth posted by the textile sector was higher than the overall level of 4.1 per cent recorded in 1996-97.

The growth rate should be viewed in relation to the difficult market conditions existing in developed countries, the European Union and the United States in the main, ministry sources say.

Both the US and EU had been adopting measures to deny access to Indian goods, including textiles. The threat of anti-dumping duties on unbleached, unprocessed cloth still looms large. Quoting the textile ministry annual report for 1996-97, sources said exports had been contributing around 30-33 per cent to total exports, earning roughly 80 per cent net foreign exchange.

Textiles exports increased from $8,524.19 million in 1994-95 to $9,022.85 million in 1995-96.

Top performers in 1996-97 were cotton yarn (48.6 per cent), wool and woollen (47.1 per cent) and cotton fabrics and made-ups (10.6 per cent). The increase in the readymade garments sector was estimated at 7 per cent.Most exports had been marked for the non-quota countries like Japan and Australia.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.