New Delhi, Jun 2 (PTI) The garment industry will make all efforts to achieve the export target of USD 20 billion in this fiscal, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said on Thursday.

AEPC Chairman Narendra Goenka requested the government to calibrate cotton yarn exports and reduce the export benefit on cotton and cotton yarn exports from India, on an immediate basis.

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The apparel industry would like to reiterate its request for immediate measures to control the cotton yarn prices which has increased to an extent of 125 per cent in the past 18 months, he said.

"We request the government to intermittently impose a ban on cotton exports for a few months to ensure availability to the industry as an immediate measure," he added.

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He also said that the formation of a Textile Advisory Group by the government will act as an active interface between different stakeholders in the textiles value chain, besides alarming and mitigating the crisis like raw material storage, increasing productivity and containing inflation.

"This is another stepping stone towards helping the industry, we are sure this step will be instrumental in bridging the gap between production and consumption of cotton and ensure raw material security in the long run," Goenka said.

Appreciating the government's move to mitigate the crisis through Textiles Advisory Group, AEPC Chairman said the body will look at the issues linked to productivity be it good quality seeds, introducing the new varieties, crop insurance to farmers and use of technology in farm optimisation and produce management, water availability, arability for the crop.

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