In Coimbatore, textile industry urged the Minister of State for Road Transport, National Highways and Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan to relax the Cabotage law to help cut costs in transporting cotton from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. Almost 50 per cent of the cotton used for textile manufacturing in Tamil Nadu is purchased from Gujarat; Tamil Nadu purchases 70,00,000 bales from Gujarat every year.
According to the law, an Indian vessel will be given first preference for the transport of goods from one port to another within the country. Only if an Indian vessel is unavailable, a foreign vessel be allowed to transport the goods after receiving license from India’s maritime regulator. Associations claims that doing away with the law would help save hundreds of crores of rupees.
Pon Radhakrishnan was invited by the associations in and around Coimbatore for a discussion on strategies to make Indian textile industry globally competitive. A meeting would be convened in July in Delhi to discuss problems faced by the Textile Industry and find a solution.
