The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) looking for financial grant from the ministry of textile, for the proposed state-of-the-art textile processing cluster at Pinjrat village in Olpad taluka of Surat district.

The total project cost for the cluster is pegged at Rs 800 crore. The SGCCI is eyeing 50 percent financial assistance from the central government and 25 percent each from the state government and the industry.

The SGCCI office-bearers submitted a letter to Kavita Gupta, textile commissioner, demanding Rs 400 crore grant for the proposed textile processing cluster to be developed on 50 lakh square metre of land at Pinjrat.

The SGCCI and some textile processors in Pandesara and Sachin industrial estates have come up with this ambitious project housing around 100 dyeing and printing mills with state-of-the-art technology at Pinjrat. A proposal for allotment of government land at Pinjrat is under consideration of Gujarat government.

SGCCI president B S Agarwal said that it is going to be an ambitious project to boost the manufacturing capacity and quality of textile processing sector in Surat. At present, only eight to 10 textile processing units manufacture finished fabrics as per the requirement of the garmenting sector, while the rest lack technical know-how. They want to set up processing cluster having big units with hi-tech technology and upgradation.

The textile processing units will be connected with a common boiler system thereby discouraging the use of chimneys emitting pollution. There will be a set-up for wind power and solar power generation, common drainage, CETP plant, tertiary treatment plant and other state-of-the-art facilities.

Agarwal said that it's not only processing and weaving, but they are eyeing garmenting units to come to the cluster at Pinjrat. Thus, they have also planned to visit Trichy, the garmenting hub, to attract investors looking for expansion.

At present, there are around 400 textile processing centres in Surat and Palsana. Only 5 percent of these units are manufacturing finished fabrics required for the garmenting sector, while others are manufacturing fabrics for saris and dress materials, home textiles, etc.