“New Textile Policy of Maharashtra will be launched soon”

Subhash Desai, a leader of Shiv Sena, took charge as the Cabinet Minister of Industries after the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance grabbed the power in Maharashtra on December 5, 2014. He is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council elected from Mumbai.

In an interaction with the Karthik Muthuveeran, Senior Sub Editor of ITJ, Subhash Desai, Minister of Industries, Government of Maharashtra, talks about MIDC´s role towards the development of textile industry in Maharashtra, and the experience of Maharashtra with their newly-launched textile park in Nandgaonpeth near Amravati. Excerpts from the interview…

Karthik Muthuveeran (KM): What role does MIDC undertaken towards the development of textile industry in Maharashtra?
Subhash Desai (SD): Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation´s (MIDC) role is to support the textile industry more and more. We are ready with the infrastructure. We have already developed Nandgaonpeth textile park in Amravati. The concept is picking up. As many as eight prominent industries have already started setting up their units. Since those areas are cotton-growing areas, local farmers will get good price for their agricultural produce. Likewise, we are also encouraging textile parks near Ichalkaranji near Kolhapur, Bhiwandi and Malegaon. All these sectors will get active support from the State Government. Apart from the eight currently-planned textile parks in Yavatmal, Buldana, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Beed and Nanded, we are planning to launch 50 more textile parks, which will be scattered all around Maharashtra.

We also plan to introduce our new textile policy very soon. In this new textile policy, there will be more and more incentives for this sector. Again, we are trying to revitalise the old spinning mills. Maharashtra has many spinning mills, but most of them are not functioning well. Some have closed down, while some are trying to improve, but we will focus on this. We will provide a package of incentives for these textile mills, which will be introduced through our textile policy.

As far as textile industry is concerned, MIDC will provide infrastructure, land, water, electricity and whatever other requirements required by the industry. MIDC cannot run the industry, but we can only provide backup for the industry.

KM: Textile parks have not really taken off overall in the country. What is Maharashtra´s experience so far?
SD: It is not like textile parks have not taken off very well. Last month, when I visited the Nandgaonpeth textile park in Amravati, I saw that the industry´s bigwigs were very enthusiastic about the newly-launched textile park. They are very happy, and this is what we [exactly] wanted. The idea of textile parks is picking up in Maharashtra. However, it will take some more time.

KM: Which are the segments in textile industry that the State wants to promote in a big way?
SD: We are looking for holistic development ´ right from spinning to finish goods, garments and fabrics. We should not restrict to any one. The real value addition happens when you go for products. Fashion designing is one area where we are inviting the educational activists to do more and more training institutes, fashion designing. If they contribute, the industry will grow fast.

KM: On the infrastructure front, are there any specific steps being taken to improve the lot for the industry and exporters of textiles?
SD: For the textile industry, the most important feature is Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). It is absolutely necessary otherwise the reaction from the community is very harsh.<