Warped and wrapped

India's 'Image Guru' and a diehard observer of the capital on how no one's giving any cover to India's textile industry

Warped and wrapped

India's 'Image Guru' and a diehard observer of the capital on how no one's giving any cover to India's textile industry

hawaa mein udtaa jaaye:
The giant statue of Lord Shiva near the IGI airport impedes flights coming in
to landu00a0
file pic

Planning Commission's Ahluwalia and Industry minister Ashwani Kumar have both ruled out further sops. Export incentives hold out some hope still, but tax breaks seem unlikely for garment exporters. Will election clouds change this attitude?

But if the outlook for exports is grim, local textile players are working to strengthen their domestic foothold not just in the metros but also Tier-I and Tier-II cities, with Arvind Mills and Mukesh Ambani's RIL planning to open exclusive stores across 11 cities.

Meanwhile, the National Textile Corporation (NTC), which has announced grandiose plans to revive its sick units in Mumbai, is finding the going rough. Its attempt last month to attract bids for its Finlay Mills land at Parel received bids quoting less than half the expected amount of more than Rs 1,000 crore. Certainly, this is one industry that is hoping Messrs Ahluwalia and Co do a rethink on helping out the sector. Let's see if the strings now being pulled, work the magic for Mumbai from Dilli.

Playing statue

The Mumbai and Delhi airports were recently rated as among the worst airports in terms of flight delays. But immovable objects are an unspoken about problem. It's hindering airport development in Mumbai and Dilli. Giant statues of Lord Shiva in Delhi and Shivaji in Mumbai considerably impede flights coming in to land.

Already, planes landing on IGI's third runway have to overshoot nearly 25 per cent of their length, to first get past the tall Shiva statue in the funnel approach. But in Mumbai, the Shivaji statue is on a pedestal right in front of the existing international terminal and on the site where the new integrated terminal has to be built.

The statue will have to be uprooted and placed elsewhere once the actual construction of the building begins. But no one dare do so, for fear of upsetting regional sensibilities which are easily provoked these days.

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