Jharkhand plans sops to woo textile industries

Jharkhand plans to launch aggressive initiatives to promote and market its ethnic textile and handloom products in a bid to help its large indigenous community of craftspersons grab a larger chunk of the rapidly growing national and global textile market.The State Government’s efforts, led by Jharkhand Silk Textile and Handicraft Development Corporation Ltd (Jharcraft), were discussed recently along with emerging opportunities in the textile, apparel, footwear & fashion sector at a seminar on Opportunities in the Textiles, Apparel, Footwear & Fashion held in Ranchi.

The major benefits of policies for Jharkhand in the textile industry is that the state is offering major incentives for the investors and providing 50 per cent of the rebate for land acquisition tax, said Raj Bala Verma, Chief Secretary Government of Jharkhand at the meeting. “Our state has huge natural resources and wide range of industry-ready raw materials. While the existing resources have already aided in creation of many primary industries in the state, the best is yet to come. Within a short span of one year, we have moved from the 29th position to 3rd on the Ease of Doing Business scale. Skilling of existing manpower has led to its fullest use in various sectors, and of late, we have started framing exclusive policies for almost 20 sectors like tourism, films, IT, apparel and textile, and so on,” say Verma.

Sunil Sethi, President, Fashion Design Council of India said the state of Jharkhand is an undiscovered treasure, with an enormous potential for industrialisation, especially in the smaller sectors like textile, apparel, and footwear, adding that Momentum Jharkhand had already taken India by storm. Fashion is the greatest eyeball-catcher across the world. Appreciation of the natural fabric of Jharkhand can not only enrich the culture, but also lives of thousands of rural people living in the state.