Gujarat’s textile policy, announced in 2012, has so far attracted investment commitment worth Rs 9,208 crore through various sectors such as weaving, made-ups, processing, spinning, ginning and technical textiles. The plan is to attract Rs 20,000 crore investment and 2.5 million new jobs by 2017.
Under the policy, 549 textile units have got approval. The latest nod is for a textile and apparel park coming up in Surat. This park will come up on 62 acres, house 42 manufacturing units and generate 1,900 jobs. So far, 12 such parks have received in-principle nod. Led by Gujarat’s Minister of Industries Saurabh Patel, the State Government has set up a ministerial committee to look into the approvals and promotion of the textile sector in the state by incentivising the same. The committee met for its 10th meeting recently and approved 43 units of weaving, made-ups, knitted fabric, processing, embroidery, cotton ginning & twisting, and one unit of technical textiles. These units, to come up in Surendranagar, Surat, Botad, Morbi, Rajkot, Valsad, and Junagadh districts, bagged approval for interest subsidy and VAT concession for all units, apart from power rate subsidy for weaving units.
These units have invested Rs 603 crore for plant and machinery. Among the incentives, while made-up units will enjoy interest subsidy of seven per cent, technical textiles and rest of the units will enjoy six per cent and five per cent, respectively, Patel said.
In the past nine meetings of the committee, 506 units investing around Rs 8,605 crore bagged approval. Maharashtra, too, has rolled out a textile policy looking to attract Rs 40,000 crore of investment and create 1.1 million employment opportunities in five years.