Government confirms the plan of reviving defunct textile parks

Confirming the Government’s initiative to boost the textile sector, Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta, said that the government is planning to revive textile parks currently remained un-operational. The government is committed to extend all possible supports to the textile sector to exploit the potential lies in both domestic and international markets. She also confirmed that investment won’t be hindrance to the plan.

With the prediction of India’s textiles exports likely to decline marginally to $40 billion this year as against $41.4 billion last year, the government looks forward to revive defunct textiles parks for which it has started drawing up plans in consultation with respective state governments.

She added that they have held meetings with the ministry (of Textiles) with brief discussion on the possibility of the revival of textiles parks. They think that the plan deserves a special attention which they are ready to extend. Some developments are to be expected very soon.

The government has approved 72 textiles parks so far of which 40-45 are un-operational, spread across the country. Also, the government has initiated special focus on technical textiles that have immense potential too.

Interestingly, defunct textiles parks in many cotton growing states face basic infrastructure issues like uninterrupted electricity, sanitation, availability of water, proximity with consuming market etc because of which many investors abstain from investing in textile parks.

Being a labour intensive industry, textile sector is the second largest employment provider only after agriculture. Also, India exports textiles worth $40 billion annually, largely to the United States and Europe. India’s textiles exports are mainly summer-wear centric with over 60% of market share.

Rahul Mehta, President, Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of India (CMAI) said that they have already achieved a significant market share in summer wear and achieved saturation. Now, they need to expand their product portfolio through entering into new segments where immense potential lies such as winter wear and kids’ wear.

With the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increased emphasis on “Make in India”, sectors that generate employment along with potential of forex earnings are expected to get a boost.