Pakistan : Textile sector fail to exploit golden opportunity

Pakistan, which has a strong textiles industry failed to take advantage of the post 2005 quota free regime, China and India aided by their respective countries had their plans in place and have developed greatly.
Industry sources say that the government of Pakistan also acted late in providing the incentives needed to prop up the sector. Secondly, the textile industry which was smug in the belief of having an advantage in technology and quality was humbled by the modernization drive adopted by the neighbouring countries.
During the past year the Pakistani rupee has depreciated against the appreciation of the Indian rupee. Coupled with the subsidies and incentives doled out Pakistan had strong advantage over other nations. However, as experts said the Pakistani industry failed to take advantage, and instead was looking for more incentives from the government which seems unlikely at present.
Analysts believe that if China & India could have managed to compete with other low labor cost countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, there was no reason why Pakistan textile industry could not have done in spite of all the advantages it enjoys versus their counterparts from other countries.