citi-news letter · 2019-01-24 · report: ikea exploring alternative fabrics cotton and yarn...

Cotlook A Index - Cents/lb (Change from previous day)

22-01-2019 83.30 (Unch)

22-01-2018 94.10

23-01-2017 82.45

New York Cotton Futures (Cents/lb) As on 24.01.2019 (Change from

previous day)

Mar 2019 73.66 (+0.14)

May 2019 74.92 (+0.39)

July 2019 76.15 (+0.14)

24th January

2019

Government to shift financial year to January-December,

announcement likely soon

Government may relax local sourcing norms for single-brand

retailers to attract big investment

India, China affecting world economy much more: Angela Merkel

Khadi fashion show in the capital on January 26

Report: Ikea exploring alternative fabrics

Cotton and Yarn Futures

ZCE - Daily Data (Change from previous day)

MCX (Change from previous day)

Jan 2019 20680 (-100)

Cotton 15975 (-75) Feb 2019 20970 (-100)

Yarn 24745 (0) Mar 2019 21210 (-130)

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2 CITI-NEWS LETTER

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Government to shift financial year to January-December,

announcement likely soon

Ahead of Budget, Piyush Goyal named interim Finance Minister

Government may relax local sourcing norms for single-brand retailers

to attract big investment

Cabinet gives nod to set up GST Appellate Tribunal

India could exceed IMF growth forecast


GDP growth could accelerate to 7.3% in FY20, says Crisil

The gap within: on inter-State disparities

Investors’ meet a grand success: CM

Finance ministry mulls hiking minimum pension under EPS

GST at an inflection point, efforts must be made to fine-tune structure

Body heat can be used to power 'smart garments'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EU lacks sufficiently stringent regulations: SMART

dti to unveil master plan to protect textile industry from cheap imports



Sri Lanka handlooms go hi-tech after decades

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NATIONAL

---------------------

GLOBAL

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3 CITI-NEWS LETTER

NATIONAL:

Government to shift financial year to January-December, announcement

likely soon

(Source: Zee News, January 22, 2019)

The move is aimed to align it with the agriculture production cycle.

New Delhi: The government will shift the financial year to January-December, from the

current April-March pattern. The move is aimed to align it with the agriculture production

cycle.

An announcement regarding this is likely to be made soon as per Cogencis sources.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had backed the idea of the January-December financial

year last year while addressing chief ministers at the Governing Council of NITI Aayog.

Modi had said that in a country where agricultural income is exceedingly important,

budgets should be prepared immediately after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the

year.

And with the monsoon arriving in June, most of the schemes and spendings by states did

not take off until October, leaving just half a year for their implementation.

The government had two years ago set up a high-level committee to study the feasibility

of shifting the financial year to January 1 from the current practice of starting it from April

1. The committee submitted its report, reasoning for the change and its effect on the

different agricultural crop periods and its impact on businesses, the taxation system and

procedures, statistics and data collection.

Earlier, the government had also advanced the Budget presentation by a month to

February 1 with a view to completing the legislative approval for annual spending plans

and tax proposals before the beginning of the new financial year. As a result, public

expenditure started from April 1. The government also scrapped a nearly century-long

practice of having a separate railway budget and instead merged it with the general

budget. It had also decided to scrap a distinction between plan and non-plan expenditures

as the classification resulted in excessive focus on the former with almost equivalent

neglect to items such as maintenance, which are classified as non-Plan.

Till 2016, the Budget was presented on the last day of February and it used to be passed

by Parliament by mid-May.

Home

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4 CITI-NEWS LETTER

Ahead of Budget, Piyush Goyal named interim Finance Minister

(Source: Money Control, January 24, 2019)

Jaitley will be designated as a minister without a portfolio during his

period of indisposition.

Piyush Goyal has been named the interim Finance Minister and interim Minister of

Corporate Affairs during Arun Jaitley's indisposition.

Goyal will retain his existing portfolios of coal and railways.

Jaitley will be designated as a minister without a portfolio during his period of

indisposition.

Goyal was earlier given additional charge of the Finance Ministry in May 2018 for a period

of three months when Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant at the All India Institute of

Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, 66, had left for the United States on January 13 for a "regular

medical check-up". There have been reports ever since that he may not return to present

the interim Budget on February 1.

A latest PTI report suggested Jaitley has undergone surgery at a hospital in New York on

January 22. He has been advised at least two weeks rest by the doctors, PTI said in the

report quoting sources. Jaitley is believed to have undergone tests for soft tissue cancer

this week.

There is no official word yet from the Finance Ministry on who will present the Budget.

However, a PTI report late on January 23 said Goyal is likely to present the interim

Budget.

Presentation of the interim Budget is scheduled for February 1.

Home

Government may relax local sourcing norms for single-brand retailers to

attract big investment

(Source: Economic Times, January 23, 2019)

In order to attract big foreign players in the single-brand retail sector, the government is

considering measures to relax the mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing norms by

allowing them more time to comply with the regulations, sources said.

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5 CITI-NEWS LETTER

Big single-brand retail firms may also be permitted to open online stores before setting

up brick-and-mortar shops.

Currently, online sale by a single-brand retail player is allowed only after opening of

physical outlet.

As per a proposal under active consideration of the government, single-brand foreign

retailers may be allowed to adjust the incremental sourcing of goods from India for global

operations during the initial 10 years from the current five years (beginning April 1 of the

year of the opening of first store) against the mandatory sourcing requirement of 30 per

cent of purchases from India, they added.

The relaxation, however, would be subject to a condition that a foreign entity would have

to bring foreign direct investment (FDI) in excess of USD 200 million within the first 2-3

years.

The move is aimed at attracting big players in the sector. The proposal requires approval

of the union cabinet for implementation.

In January 2018, the government allowed 100 per cent FDI in the sector, permitting

foreign players in single-brand retail trade to set up own shops in India without

government approval.

That time, the government also relaxed mandatory local sourcing requirement of 30 per

cent by stating that a foreign retailer would be able to get credit from incremental increase

in sourcing for its global operations from India towards the mandatory 30 per cent local

sourcing requirement for its business in the country.

During April-June 2018-19, FDI in India grew by 23 per cent to USD 12.75 billion. The

Commerce and Industry Ministry has not released the foreign investment data after June

2018.

Home

Cabinet gives nod to set up GST Appellate Tribunal

(Source: The Hindu, January 23, 2019)

It will serve as a dispute resolution forum for Centre, States

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of a National Bench of the Goods

and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), which would serve as the forum of second

appeals to do with the applicability of GST, and will also be the first common forum of

dispute resolution between the Centre and the States.

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6 CITI-NEWS LETTER

Composition

The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal, to be situated in New Delhi, will be

presided over by its president. It will consist of a technical member from the Centre and

a representative of the States. “This is part and parcel of the GST provisions,” L. Badri

Narayanan, Partner at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, said. “They had to create the

Tribunal. The way they had envisaged it was that assessment would be done by people

below the rank of Commissioner, and the appeals would be with the Commissioner. The

Commissioner (Appeals) could then go to the Tribunal. They have now approved the

setting up of that Tribunal.” Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act provides for an appeal and

review mechanism for dispute resolution under the GST regime. Section 109 of this

chapter empowers the Centre to constitute, on the recommendation of the GST Council,

an appellate tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate

Authority.

The government, it is learnt, was initially planning an appellate tribunal in each State.

However, the idea was discarded in favour of one at the national level following the

experience with the various state-level advance ruling authorities, which often gave

conflicting judgments. “The disputes they would be looking at would be appeals under

GST law wherein the taxpayer is contesting the tax demand put by the tax department,”

Mr. Narayanan added. “The appeal based on the assessment would be made to the

Commissioner (Appeals) and from there there would be an appeal to the Apellate

Tribunal.”

The creation of the National Bench would involve a one-time expenditure of ₹92.50 lakh,

the government said.

“While typically not many litigations should have been adjudicated, still early formation

of this Appellate Authority would help prevent any unwarranted delays in the

adjudication of appeals to be filed in the future,” Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner at EY, said.

Home

India could exceed IMF growth forecast


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has tweaked its growth forecasts for the world at

large and for India for 2019, from its World Economic Outlook figures of Fall, 2018. This

should not cause much disquiet. The IMF’s forecasts keep varying, depending on the

assessment possible with available data, and must be understood as being indicative. If

India grows at 7.5% in a slowing world economy that will struggle to grow at less than half

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7 CITI-NEWS LETTER

that rate, that should be reassuring. Incidentally, it is cold comfort that China’s growth is

expected to slow to 6.2%. That is on abase of $14 trillion. The larger an economy, the

harder it is for it grow at a blistering pace. However, the good news is that India’s growth

is likely to be better than what the IMF forecast suggests.

India is, at present, going through a credit squeeze: their huge burden of non-performing

assets prevents banks from lending as freely as they would otherwise have. Once

recapitalisation and resolution of bad loans have been completed, as these would

substantially be, over the course of 2019 and 2020, banks would be free to start lending

vigorously. Infrastructure investment has been subdued, being limited, for the most part,

to state-funded projects. Contracts that incorporate the right lessons from the public-

private partnerships of the last decade would allow, once again, private participation in

infrastructure building. Indigenous manufacture of defence equipment is poised to take

off. The consumer goods industry is beginning to exhaust spare capacity. Power supply in

rural areas is increasingly reliable during the day, paving the way for new agro processing

industry across the land. All told, investment will likely see a sharp pickup.

When the global economy slows down, oil prices tend to be tame, and that is good news

for India. So long as governments at the Centre and the states resist the temptation to

splurge or cut oil taxes sharply, this would help contain the fiscal deficit, which, for the

Centre and the states together, has not come down much over the last five years, the IMF

reminds India.

Home


(Source: Live Mint, January 23, 2019)

Angela Merkel said there are a number of disturbances around the world and the

IMF has painted a rather gloomy picture

Merkel said compromise these days has a bad reputation, but a global architecture

is only possible if we are able to compromise

Davos: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said countries like India and

China have begun affecting the world economy much more today and that needs to be

taken into account for having a relook at the global trade and financial systems.

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8 CITI-NEWS LETTER

In a veiled attack at policies being adopted by countries like the US, she said, "There is a

new approach in the world that says shouldn't we look after our own, and ensure that our

own are looked after."

"I have great doubts about this approach. We should always remember that others have

their own interests," Merkel said. "Let's call a spade a spade."

Speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here, she said there are a

number of disturbances around the world and the IMF has painted a rather gloomy

picture of the global economy.

If we look at the international order today, the global architecture is still driven a lot by

what was created by people who were in power after the Second World War and they had

the insight and their decisions should not be cast aside, Merkel said.

She added that politicians have got a lot to face and banking industry has also lost a lot of

credibility after the financial crisis.

"The global financial system has got damaged quite a bit and we need to do a lot to fix the

things," she said, while noting that international bodies such as the World Trade

Organization(WTO), IMF and the World Bank have very much contributed to making the

world a better place.

"Countries like China and India are affecting the global economy much more today and

the global organisations need to take that into account," she said, while highlighting the

emergence of organisations like G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

She said there is a wake up call for the world and we need to find out how to move forward.

Merkel said compromise these days has a bad reputation, but a global architecture is only

possible if we are able to compromise.

Home

GDP growth could accelerate to 7.3% in FY20, says Crisil


Faster pace on assumption of normal rains, poll outcome

GDP growth is expected to quicken to 7.2% in 2018-19 and further to 7.3% in 2019-20,

according to Crisil. The agency predicts retail inflation to rise substantially by then, to

4.5% in 2019-20.

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9 CITI-NEWS LETTER

“Fiscal 2019 was a year of recovery from demonetisation and the initial disruption caused

by the Goods and Service Tax implementation,” Crisil said in a report. “The economy has

so far fired mainly on the public investment cylinder, and is estimated to grow at 7.2%.

Private consumption has disappointed. Exports, however, have performed well,

presenting a buoy to the manufacturing sector.”

In financial year 2019-20, Crisil expects GDP growth to quicken marginally to 7.3% based

on the assumptions of normal rains, lower oil prices, and a stable political outcome in the

2019 general elections. “With the government likely to stick to a fiscal consolidation path,

the pick-up in growth is expected to be only gradual,” the report added. “A change in the

growth mix is on cards, with private sector likely to take over the baton from the

government.”

Private consumption

Private consumption growth is expected to pick up on the back of softer interest rates and

an improvement in farm realisations as food inflation moves up. “For fiscal 2020,

sustaining the momentum in overall investments will be a tough task without support

from private investments,” the report said.

“With continuously improving capacity utilisation and the end of the de-leveraging phase

for corporates, conditions are ripe for a revival of private corporate investments. A stable

political outcome will facilitate this,” the report said.

That said, the report did mention that downside risks exist, especially to do with the

assumptions on rainfall, oil prices, and political stability. “Our base case assumption is of

a fourth consecutive year of normal monsoon,” the report said. The past 15 years have

seen two such periods of four consecutive normal rainfall years — 2005 to 2008 and 2010

to 2013 — that yielded healthy average agriculture growth of 3.6% and 5.5%, respectively.”

However, Crisil noted that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration of the

United States (U.S.) is forecasting an El Niño event in 2019. India faced two consecutive

El Niño events in 2014 and 2015, the report said, with agriculture GDP growth dropping

to near zero. If 2019 is also an El Niño year, this would compound the rural distress

currently being felt on account of dropping farmer incomes.

“If the general elections this year were to yield a fractured mandate and derail/delay the

process of reforms, the implications on sentiments, investments and growth could be

adverse,” the report said.

Crisil said its base case scenario for oil prices was for them to settle at about $60-65 per

barrel on an average in financial year 2019-20, compared with an average of $68-72 per

barrel in 2018-19, due to a slowdown in overall global demand. However, it added that

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10 CITI-NEWS LETTER

some price pressure could be felt in response to the recently-announced supply-cuts by

the OPEC countries.

“If oil prices were to spike and stay high through the fiscal, India’s manufacturers could

face input price pressures,” the report said. “And with consumption seeing only a gradual

revival, pass-through of these higher costs on to prices could be difficult therefore

squeezing margins.”

The agency also pointed to a possible reversal of benign food inflation in 2019-20, in the

eventuality of the monsoon failing and the related effect this would have on food prices.

It also noted that the price of pulses could also move upwards as they follow a pattern of

rising every third year.

Home

The gap within: on inter-State disparities


India, as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, may well be catching up with the

richer economies in terms of absolute size. But economic convergence within the country

remains a distant dream as poorer States continue to lag behind the richer ones in

economic growth. A report from the rating agency Crisil found that the inter-State

disparities have widened in recent years even as the larger economy grows in size and

influence on the global stage. Many low-income States have experienced isolated years of

strong economic growth above the national average. Bihar, in fact, was the fastest-

growing State this year among the 17 non-special category States evaluated by the report.

But they have still failed to bridge their widening gap with the richer States since they

have simply not been able to maintain a healthy growth rate over a sustained period of

time. Richer States like Gujarat, for instance, have been able to achieve sustained

economic growth and increase their gap over other States. The report found that there

was a slight, albeit weak, convergence in the per capita income levels of the poorer and

richer States between fiscal years 2008 and 2013, but the trend was reversed in the

subsequent years. Between fiscal years 2013 and 2018, there has been a significant

divergence rather than convergence in the economic fortunes of the poorer and richer

States. This was the result of richer States continuing to show strong growth while the

poorer States fell behind. In fact, only two of the eight low-income States in 2013 had

growth rates above the national average over the next five years. On the other hand, six

out of the nine high-income States recorded rates higher than the national average during

2013-18.

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11 CITI-NEWS LETTER

What explains the divergence in the economic fortunes of States? The report suggests

that, at least during fiscal year 2018, government spending may be what boosted gross

domestic product growth in the top-performing States, particularly in Bihar and Andhra

Pradesh whose double-digit growth rates have come along with a burgeoning fiscal deficit.

The impact of greater spending was that 10 of the 17 States breached the 3% fiscal deficit

limit set by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. Many other big-

spending States, however, have not managed to achieve growth above the national

average. Punjab and Kerala, which are at the bottom of the growth table, are ranked as

profligates by the report. This suggests that the size of public spending is probably not

what differentiates the richer States from the poorer ones. Other variables like the

strength of State-level institutions, as gauged by their ability to uphold the rule of law and

create a free, competitive marketplace for businesses to thrive, and the quality of public

spending could be crucial determinants of the long-run growth prospects of States.

Home

Investors’ meet a grand success: CM


‘Proposals cross targeted ₹2 lakh crore’

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday termed the second

edition of the Global Investors Meet (GIM) a “grand success”, and said it had exceeded

the targeted investment of ₹2 lakh crore.

“The response in terms of both investment proposals as well as delegate registration for

GIM 2019 has far exceeded our expectations. Proposals for new investments have been

pouring in ever since we started preparations... This is a momentous occasion in the

history of industrialisation of Tamil Nadu, which will set new records of investment,” Mr.

Palaniswami said at the start of the two-day event.

In the inaugural session, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the State’s

aerospace and defence industrial policy even as the Chief Minister indicated that the State

would soon launch an electric vehicles policy and introduce electric buses in cities.

Centre offers support

Ms. Sitharaman assured support from the Centre for investors in defence and other

sectors.

Like last time, this year’s inaugural ceremony witnessed a colourful display of cultural

programmes.

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12 CITI-NEWS LETTER

To encourage aerospace and defence manufacturing, the State had conceived an exclusive

aerospace and defence park on 250 acres of land in Sriperumpudur, the Chief Minister

said.

Tamil Nadu Industries Minister M.C. Sampath said in the last edition of GIM, the State

had attracted over ₹2.42 lakh crore in investment, across 98 projects, of which 64 were

in advanced stages of implementation.

Home

Finance ministry mulls hiking minimum pension under EPS


The government is mulling doubling the minimum pension

under the Employees’ Pension Scheme to Rs 2,000 per month, a

move that will benefit over 4 million workers.

Those part of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation

(EPFO) automatically become subscribers to the pension

scheme.

Ahigh-level labour committee put forth a proposal to raise the

pension, which is being “actively” considered by the finance

ministry, two of the committee members told ET.

The government spends about Rs 9,000 crore per annum on

pensions under the Employee Pension Scheme. This figure will go up to Rs 12,000 crore

if the proposal is accepted. “It is very clear that with the existing kitty, it will not be

possible to bear the additional burden on account of higher pension,” said one of the

persons quoted above. “Hence, the ball is in the court of the finance ministry to decide if

the government is willing to bear the cost.”

The committee, constituted last year under the additional secretary of labour, was asked

to evaluate and review the Employees’ Pension Scheme, a senior government official said.

The other committee member quoted above said the finance ministry may impose a rider

prohibiting beneficiaries from withdrawing the pension part of their provident fund kitty

till the age of retirement if they wish to avail the higher pension. The condition that the

subscriber cannot withdraw the amount prematurely will, “over a period of time, give us

enough funds to sustain the scheme on our

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13 CITI-NEWS LETTER

There are around 6 million pensioners, of which about 4 million are getting less than Rs

1,500 per month. Of these, 1.8 million are the existing beneficiaries under the minimum

pension of Rs 1,000. The government has about Rs 3 lakh crore of pension funds.

The government has been under pressure from trade unions and the All India EPS 95

Pensioners Sangharsh Samiti to raise the minimum monthly pension to anything between

Rs 3,000 and Rs 7,500. Even a parliamentary panel had recently asked the government

to assess Employees’ Pension Scheme and consider revision of the minimum monthly

pension, arguing that the existing social security benefit is too meagre to fulfil even the

basic needs.

Employees are automatically enrolled into the EPS scheme only if they are members of

the EPF scheme. Of an employee’s salary, 12% goes to their EPF account every month,

while 12% of the employer's contribution is split into EPF (3.67%) and EPS (8.33%). EDLI

(0.5%) and other administrative charges are also borne by the employer. This

contribution is subject to a maximum of Rs 1,250 a month.

Home

GST at an inflection point, efforts must be made to fine-tune structure

(Source: Dharmakirti joshi, The Hindu Business Line, January 23, 2019)

India’s biggest tax reform is working, but it could do a lot better with more

tweaks

It is only a matter of time before the disruptions and loss of revenue from the

implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) give way to efficiency and compliance

gains.

It will happen as economic growth accelerates and systemic bugs get fixed, and,

importantly, the government continues fine-tuning the GST structure.

Increased costs

The disruptions caused increased both the compliance cost for tax payers and

administrative costs for the government. Inability to process refunds of exporters hurt

their short-term prospects, particularly in labour-intensive sectors like textiles and

leather. The roll out of the technology platform, the Goods and Services Tax Network

(GSTN), was also not smooth.

But the government was quick to make amends, including paring rates.

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14 CITI-NEWS LETTER

As the slip-ups get systematically eliminated, tax revenue as well as transparency will

increase. Reason, why GST revenue can only improve in the medium term?

There have also been other positive fallouts of GST.

The Economic Survey 2018 reported that the number of indirect tax payers has gone up

by 50 per cent and direct tax payers, by 1.8 million, after demonetisation and GST.

In addition, GST will help formalise the economy and have a positive spill over effect on

income tax compliance.

Global experience tells us that the introduction of GST raises the spectre of inflation as

tax rates undergo changes.

Since the pass-through is often asymmetric — producers are quick to pass on tax increases

to consumers, but tend to hold on to gains from tax cuts — inflation tends to rise. But this

did not happen in India for two reasons: food inflation came down sharply, and the cuts

in GST rates on some of the items brought prices down.

There is also some evidence of improvement in personal income tax compliance.

Number of filers up

The number of income-tax filers has notably improved, which has lifted direct tax

buoyancy (or the percentage point increase in tax collection for every percentage point

increase in GDP) to 1.9 in fiscal 2018 from 0.6 in fiscal 2016.

That was clearly on account of better compliance on the personal income tax front, as

corporate tax collections have been sluggish. Rates need to be brought down, exemptions

trimmed for corporate taxes as was promised by the Narendra Modi government in its

maiden Budget.

To sum, a simple and efficient tax system is critical for improving tax buoyancy.

For achieving that, efforts must go in the direction of further streamlining the tax

structure.

GST’s unfinished agenda includes bringing items such as petroleum products into its fold,

streamlining in certain sectors like real estate etc.

The writer is Chief Economist, Crisil

Home

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15 CITI-NEWS LETTER

Body heat can be used to power 'smart garments'

(Source: Times of India, January 23, 2019)

Scientists say they have developed a fabric that can harvest body heat to power small

wearable electronic devices such as activity trackers.

Many wearable biosensors, data transmitters and similar tech advances for personalised

health monitoring have been "creatively miniaturised," said Trisha Andrew from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US.

However, they require a lot of energy, and power sources can be bulky and heavy, said

Andrew.

The research, published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, describes that

in theory, body heat can produce power by taking advantage of the difference between

body temperature and ambient cooler air, a "thermoelectric" effect.

Materials with high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity can move

electrical charge from a warm region towards a cooler one in this way.

Some studies has shown that small amounts of power can be harvested from a human

body over an eighthour workday, but the special materials needed at present are either

very expensive, toxic or inefficient, researchers said.

"What we have developed is a way to inexpensively vapour-print biocompatible, flexible

and lightweight polymer films made of everyday, abundant materials onto cotton fabrics

that have high enough thermoelectric properties to yield fairly high thermal voltage,

enough to power a small device," Andrew said.

The researchers took advantage of the naturally low heat transport properties of wool and

cotton to create thermoelectric garments that can maintain a temperature gradient across

an electronic device known as a thermopile.

The device converts heat to electrical energy even over long periods of continuous wear,

researchers said.

This is a practical consideration to insure that the conductive material is going to be

electrically, mechanically and thermally stable over time, they said.

"Essentially, we capitalised on the basic insulating property of fabrics to solve a long-

standing problem in the device community," the researchers said.

"We believe this work will be interesting to device engineers who seek to explore new

energy sources for wearable electronics and designers interested in creating smart

garments," they said.

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16 CITI-NEWS LETTER

The researchers created their all-fabric thermopile by vapour-printing a conducing

polymer known as PEDOT-Cl onto one tight-weave and one medium-weave form of

commercial cotton fabric.

They then integrated this thermopile into a specially designed, wearable band that

generates thermo-voltages greater than 20 milliVolts when worn on the hand.

The researchers tested the durability of the PEDOT-CI coating by rubbing or laundering

coated fabrics in warm water and assessing performance by scanning electron

micrograph.

This showed that the coating "did not crack, delaminate or mechanically wash away upon

being laundered or abraded, confirming the mechanical ruggedness of the vapour-printed

PEDOT-CI."

The researchers measured the surface electrical conductivity of the coatings using a

custom-built probe and found that the looser weave cotton demonstrated higher

conductivity than the tighter weave material.

The conductivities of both fabrics "remained largely unchanged after rubbing and

laundering," they said

Using a thermal camera, they established that the wrist, palm and upper arms of

volunteers radiated the most heat, so the researchers produced stretchy knitted bands of

thermoelectric fabric that can be worn in these areas.

The air-exposed outer side of the band is insulated from body heat by yarn thickness,

while only the uncoated side of the thermopile contacts the skin to reduce the risk of

allergic reaction to PEDOT-CI, the researchers said.

Home

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17 CITI-NEWS LETTER

GLOBAL:

EU lacks sufficiently stringent regulations: SMART

(Source: Fibre2Fashion, January 23, 2019)

Despite the European Union (EU) having a wide range of sustainability-oriented policies

and regulations, there is a lack of coherence and sufficiently stringent and enforceable

regulations, according to Beate Sjåfjell, a law professor at Norway’s University of Oslo,

and the leader of the Sustainable Market Actors for Responsible Trade (SMART) project.

The SMART project comprises researchers from 25 institutions from around the world

and is funded by the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. It studies

the environmental and social footprints of global supply chains for clothes and mobile

phones.

“Reforms adopted by the EU to promote sustainability often give a broad scope to the

member states on how to implement these. Unfortunately, member states tend to aim for

minimum implementation, out of fears of jeopardising their own competitive position or

that of their businesses,” a press release from the project quoted Sjåfjell as saying.

The lack of coherent regulation means that potentially hazardous chemicals are

continuously being used in all stages of the production process in the textile industry, says

Tineke Lambooy, who is a professor at the Nyenrode Business University in the

Netherlands.

“The traditional production process for many kinds of fashion articles starts in

the cotton field. There, a lot of pesticides and fertilisers are used in the mainstream

processes. Growing cotton requires a lot of pesticides, dying yarn requires chemicals, and

chemicals are also involved in the end-phase of the product life cycle, when the product

becomes waste or is recycled,” Lambooy says.

Sjåfjell and other researchers from the project presented the results of their research at a

conference in Brussels late last year.

The hazardous materials in textiles and mobile phones also end up being spread across

the world, often in countries where waste management is lacking.

“The EU should introduce new regulation that mandates companies to disclose reliable

and comparable information, and operate in a more sustainable way,” Lambooy says.

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18 CITI-NEWS LETTER

The SMART project runs till February 2020 and will in its last year concentrate on

developing reform proposals and impact assessment guidelines to ensure policy

coherence for sustainability.

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dti to unveil master plan to protect textile industry from cheap imports

(Source: Bongani Hans, January 23, 2019)

Durban - The Trade and Industry Department will, in two months time, unveil a master

plan to protect the local textile industry from cheap imported goods, Deputy Minister

Bulelani Magwanishe has said.

Magwanishe spoke to the media in Durban yesterday, during the official launch of African

Blaize Apparel, the country’s biggest 100% black-owned textile factory, in Verulam, north

of Durban.

Magwanishe said the government had considered increasing tariffs to protect the local

textile industry from foreign competitors.

“The biggest challenge we are facing is the competitiveness of the industry. That is why in

March we are going to unveil a master plan to try to protect the industry and increase its

competitiveness.”

KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC, Sihle Zikalala,

accompanied Magwanishe.

The factory supplies its products to Pep, Mr Price and a number of other retail shops in

the country.

African Blaize Apparel chief executive Sizwe Mbanjwa said the company, which had state-

of-the-art machines, was 100% black-owned and managed and had 500 employees,

although its target was to have 700.

Mbanjwa said he was concerned because many clothes were imported illegally from

neighbouring countries.

“They pay a fraction (in their countries) for what we pay (in South Africa), but all those

clothes that are produced find their way into South Africa, and we have to manage our

borders.”

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19 CITI-NEWS LETTER

Zikalala said the factory was a demonstration of the concerted and continued effort by the

state to support black industrialists and to grow those sectors that were more labour -

intensive, such as clothing and textiles.

“We know that in the recent period the industry had to succumb to severe international

pressure, leading to the dwindling of local manufacturing capacity, resulting in job losses

in Mandeni, eThekwini, Howick and Newcastle.”

Zikalala said the KwaZulu-Natal government had partnered with the private sector to

revive the industry.

“As the government we continue to avail financial assistance and non-financial support

to make the domestic clothing and textile industry more competitive.”

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(Source: Gulf news, January 23, 2019)

Two fashion designers from India, UAE to showcase their collections

ABU DHABI: The Embassy of India in collaboration with Khadi and Village Industries

Commission (KVIC), Apparel Group and Indian Business & Professional Group (IBPG),

Abu Dhabi will organise a khadi fashion show at Etihad Jumeirah Hotel, Abu Dhabi on

January 26.

Two fashion designers — Sunaina Suneja from India and Feryal Al Bastaki from the UAE

— will showcase their collections highlighting the opulent legacy of Indian textiles and

Emirati designs.

Ambassador Navdeep Suri said that in view of increasing demand for khadi, a sustainable

natural hand-spun fabric with zero carbon footprint, in the UAE, the embassy will

facilitate meetings of KVIC which has been mandated by the Government of India to

promote khadi and its products, with textile groups in UAE.

He said the khadi fashion show is being held to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary

of Mahatma Gandhi as he popularised khadi as a symbol of self-reliance and to promote

the indigenous textile industry of India. He added that with khadi having a unique quality

of being warm in winters and cool in summers, it is India’s gift to the world as a hand-

woven luxury.

Chairman of KVIC V.K. Saxena said KVIC was happy to be part of khadi promotion in

UAE, with which India enjoys deep cultural and civilisational links. Nilesh Ved, chairman,

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20 CITI-NEWS LETTER

Apparel Group, said he was proud to use the nation’s fabric and contribute to khadi’s

revival in the UAE.

Padmnabha Acharya, president, Indian Business & Professional Group, Abu Dhabi, said

IBPG was honoured to promote khadi and to partner with the Embassy of India.

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(Source: Home Textiles Today, January 23, 2019)

Ikea’s sourcing team in India is looking at alternatives to cotton.

According to a report from The Economic Times of India, the retailer sources substantial

amounts of cotton fabric from India, but is conducting pilot projects using other fibers.

Sandeep Saran, Ikea’s new business manager for purchasing in logistics in South Asia,

said the company is also considering fabrics made from recycled PET bottles as well as

“We seek to scale up sourcing of alternative fabrics,” he said.

Saran was speaking during the Vibrant Gujarat 2019 summit, a biennial event that

brings together India’s business leaders across a range of industries.

Last summer, Ikea announced that by 2030 it plans to use only renewable and recycled

materials in its products as it seeks to slash the climate footprint of its merchandise by

70% per item. The global retailer also pledged to remove single-use plastic products from

its assortment and at its in-store food service stations by 2020 and achieve zero emissions

on home deliveries by 2025.

“Becoming truly circular means meeting people’s changing lifestyles, prolonging the life

of products and materials and using resources in a smarter way. To make this a reality,

we will design all products from the very beginning to be repurposed, repaired, reused,

resold and recycled,” said Ikea sustainability manager Lena Pripp-Kovac in the July 2018

announcement.

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Sri Lanka handlooms go hi-tech after decades

(Source: The daily News, January 22, 2019)

Sri Lanka’s textile and handlooms sector gets a major upgrade this year after many

decades when a global technology platform used in complex patterns is presented to

domestic craftsmen and designers this year.

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21 CITI-NEWS LETTER

“I have been told that modern hi-tech can greatly increase the productivity of our high

quality handlooms” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce Resettlement of

Protracted Displaced Persons & Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen addressing

a progress review of many institutions under his Ministry on 17 January.

Jacquard machines are used by handloom designers to speed up their manual production

looms’ speed. Jacquard machines give the strength of power-looms to hand-loom

machines by speeding up complex handloom designs using a punch card system.

“Our Sri Lankan handloom designers already use punch-card driven Jacquard machines

handlooms for their production. However, these machines are not sufficient to meet the

speed of today’s handloom market. The Textiles and Handlooms Development Division

of the Ministry therefore will replace these punched card machines to digital,

computerised Jacquards. I have been told that this modern hi-tech can greatly increase

the productivity of looms and appeal of the design” said Minister Bathiudeen.

Accordingly, the Ministry plans to install the first high quality digital Jacquard system at

its Sri Lanka Institute of Textile Technology, Ratmalana at an estimated cost of US $

20,000. This system will be used to demonstrate and train national level handloom

producers as well as private sector suppliers who would be encouraged to import them on

their own and competitively sell to local handloom producers. The Textile Department

plans to import eight more digital Jacquards to be given to each province to train the

Provincial producers and encourage provincial machinery importers.

Sri Lanka’s handloom sector is one of the low cost but high earning industries. The

production is labour intensive and the industry consumes less electricity & utilities but

generates higher employment. It is estimated that more than 12000 personnel are

engaged in it. Wayamba, Western, and Central are the key provinces for Lankan

handlooms.

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