Meeting of Committee of Administration of WWEPC held in Amritsar

Ludhiana, August 10, 2016: The meeting of Committee of Administration of WWEPC was held on Tuesday in Amritsar under the Chairmanship of Shri Sushil Kaura, Chairman of the Council.
The meeting was also attended by Mrs.Geeta Narayan, Joint Secretary (Wool), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, Shri Rajneesh Ghai, Vice Chairman, Shri R.K Gupta, Executive Director, WWEPC and other Committee Members who are representing different sectors of Indian woollen Industry. Shri R.C.Khanna, Shri Kanish Kaura, Shri Aridaman Jain, Shri D. K. Jain, Shri Sandeep Thapar, Shri Sanjeev Dhir, Shri Harmeet Singh Bhalla, Shri Bablesh Gupta, Shri Deepak Mehra and Shri Kapil Mehra were also present in the meeting.
Shri Sushil Kaura informed that the exports of woollen products have shown decline of about 17% in dollar terms during first quarter i.e. April to June’2016. The main reasons for decline in exports are global slowdown especially in EU & USA which are the main markets for Indian woollen products. In addition to these obstacles, the constant global warming, reduction in severity of winter also play vital role in decline of export of woollen products. The decline in exports of is a matter of deep disappointment and concern requiring urgent action from the government. The woollen industry feels that there is immediate need of Government support like increase in duty drawback rates, speedy release of drawback, abolition of import duty on raw wool and textile machinery/spare parts and consideration of special package to boost the exports.
Shri Kaura also informed that in order to renew existing contacts and explore possibilities of increasing our exports, the WWEPC is participating in leading trade fairs/exhibitions in Kazakhstan, Australia, Germany and China during current financial year.
Shri Kaura summed up major activities of the Council and said that international marketing initiatives, cluster development projects, product development and new policy initiatives have to be pursued more vigorously in order to sustain the growth in woollen exports.
Shri Kaura thanked Mrs. Geeta Narayan for sparing her valuable time for attending the meeting.
Mrs. Geeta Narayan heard the issues taken up during the meeting and she assured full support from the Government for solving the issues of woollen industry to enhance the share of export of woollen products. She also sought suggestions from the stakeholders for development of this sector.