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In the recent years, Indian textiles sector saw considerable fall in production. Indian companies lost most of their foreign clients to Bangladesh textile companies. Unfriendly industrial policies and growing labour trouble saw closure of a number of textile units.
To revive the sector, which was once the second largest employment provider, Indian government took some concrete steps in the recent past. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the introduction of "Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS)" which aims at encouraging apparel and garment industry and promotion of Technical Textiles through technology upgradation to boost the ‘Make in India’ initiative in textile sector and for expanding exports and employment. In Oct 2015, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, made amendments in the “Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)” for enhancement of market coverage to boost textile and apparel exports.
Initiatives of the Ministry of Textiles
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- Initiation of action for supporting start-up entrepreneurs in taking up handicraft / handloom production on a commercial scale and in availing credit from MUDRA Bank
- Cluster Level Development; providing Common Facility Centres at Cluster Level; Restructuring Implementation modalities of Mega Cluster Scheme to make it more market-oriented
- Organising regular exhibitions / sale festivals in large cities in different parts of the country, in order to provide regular marketing facilities for promotion of handlooms and handicrafts
- Linking handloom with fashion and tourism, with a view to expanding the market and increasing earnings
- Pilot Scheme of in-situ upgradation of existing plain power looms to semi-automatic looms by providing additional attachments to enable the power loom weavers to improve the production and quality of fabrics to face the competition in domestic and international markets
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Government Interventions at state level
Recently, in order to boost the textile sector, the Maharashtra government approved nine new textile parks throughout the state, of which two will be in Vidarbha, and the rest in Marathwada and Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra. Apart from Nandgaon Peth, the textile parks will come up at Yavatmal, Chikhli (Buldana), Jamner (Jalgaon), Kannad (Aurangabad), Selu (Parbhani), Bhaler (Nandurbar), Malegaon (Nashik), Krishnur (Nanded) and Majalgaon (Beed). The textile parks in Vidarbha region are to be set up through Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).
In Nov 2015, Andhra Pradesh CM, N Chandrababu Naidu, approved setting-up new textile projects in the state. The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) gave permission for setting up Tarakeswar Textile Park in Sullurpet mandal of Nellore district to be built at a cost Rs 337 crore and to be ready by 2017. At the SIPB meeting, CM also directed the officials concerned to take necessary measures for the upcoming textile hubs in four districts of the state - Anantapur, Guntur, Kurnool and Visakhapatnam.
In Sep 2015, the Union Government approved seven textile parks under SITP (Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks) in Rajasthan to attract investments, and Rajasthan State Indl. Devp. & Investment Corpn. signed an MoU worth Rs 300 crore with VICO Infrastructure of Anaadih Group, Kolkata, and RIICO to set up a garment park at Prahaladpur, Jaipur.
Further, in Sep 2015, the Tamil Nadu government announced setting up of an integrated textile processing park in Ramanathapuram at a cost of Rs 150 crore; the 224 acre industrial park will have space for 30 textile units with cumulative investments of over Rs 450 crore. Also, the Union Ministry of Textiles launched five common facility centres for small jute handicrafts units in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
Projex in Textiles sector
At the micro level, on 21 Dec 2015, Sintex Industries announced completion of the Phase I of its Rs 1,700 crore cotton yarn unit with a capacity of 3,20,000 spindles at Pipaliya in Rajkot district of Gujarat. Work on Phase II was expected to commence by January 2016.
Arvind, the textile and apparel major, announced plans for expanding its domestic retail network with setting up 10,000 outlets across India to promote its premium fabric, Tresca. The company is also eyeing entry into overseas markets over the next two years.
Chennai-based women's legwear company, Go Fashions India, has firmed up plans to expand its international and domestic footprint and also its product range. Himatsingka Group, an integrated textile company, received in-principle approval from the Karnataka government for the expansion of its manufacturing facilities in Hassan. The expansion involving backward integration into spinning and a foray into terry towels will be carried out over the next three years at an investment of Rs 1,281 crore.
Trident completed its capacity expansion in September 2015. The brown field project saw its spindlage capacity increasing from 3.66 lakh spindles p.a. to 5.55 lakh spindles p.a. at Budhni in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh.
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