Asserting that India was on the 'threshold of a new era' in the textiles sector, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday cautioned that the country must take steps to protect the intellectual property of its weavers, artisans and designers.
"We must evolve strategies to guard against piracy. Both the government and the business should work together to protect the intellectual property of our weavers, our artisans and our designers in the way that the developed world protects its products," Singh said after inaugurating a Rs 400-crore (Rs 4 billion) India Expo Centre and Mart in Delhi.
The prime minister said with the emergence of a new high-end market for Indian handlooms and handicrafts, the country faced 'a growing threat from those who seek to imitate our designs and methods.'
However, he pointed out that new opportunities were opening up globally for Indian products, especially after the withering away of the multi-fiber agreement.
". . . we are on the threshold of a new era. A new renewal, afforded by the withering away of the Multi-Fiber Agreement, beckons to our textile sector," Singh said, adding that major markets such as the United States and the European Union were increasingly opening to Indian products.
"New opportunities are presenting themselves globally," he pointed out.
The prime minister said that rigid domestic laws, complex rules, regulations and excessive controls had inhibited the growth of an internationally competitive textile industry in India.
"After Independence, despite our comparative advantage in the textiles sector, we missed the opportunity afforded by growing global demand. We were overtaken in the world market by other textile exporting economies of Asia," he said, adding that India can retrieve lost ground by putting in place sensible policies.
He said the Indian textile industry was capable of regaining its glorious position as one of the world's most creative and competitive industries.
"In this age of environment sensitivity and mass manufacture, a high premium is being placed on handicraft products. The wares produced by our artisans are seen as unique, exclusive and environment-friendly. This is an edge that we must actively utilise," Singh said.
He said efforts should be made to provide efficient marketing set-up, trade infrastructure, brand-building and quality assurance for Indian products.
The prime minister lauded the timely completion of the India Expo Centre and Mart. "I am happy to learn that this project has been completed, like Phase One of the Delhi Metro, within the specified target date."
"This is a new trend we are setting in our country where time- and cost-overruns had become a tragic joke," he said.
He hoped that the opening of IECM would help in the rejuvenation of the textile, garments, handlooms and handicrafts industry.
