The Rs 700 bn investment bait
On March 17, 2023, the Government of India (GoI) announced the selection of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra for setting up of seven PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks for the textile industry. These seven sites were chosen out of 18 proposals for PM MITRA parks which were received from 13 states. The Union Ministry of Textiles will provide financial support in the form of Development Capital Support upto Rs 5 billion per park to the Park SPV, which will oversee the implementation of the project. The government envisages about Rs 700 billion investment and 20 lakhs employment generation through these parks.
Indian textile industry is elated with the announcement. According to the Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL), these mega parks are the need of the hour to attract large scale investments from across the world in the textile sector and will serve as a catalyst in achieving the export target of $ 100 billion by 2030. With these parks and other initiatives of the governments (Union as well as states), India is poised to take advantage of the China Plus One mindset prevailing in the world today and attract huge investments to the textile sector.
After the Union Ministry of Textiles formally launched 7 PM MITRA parks, 11 companies have already signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up units with a combined investment of Rs 12.31 billion at PM MITRA textile park at Virudhunagar.
Recently, while speaking to newspaper, Rachna Shah, Secretary with the Ministry of Textiles, stated the government was expecting the $150 billion textiles sector to grow to $ 250 billion by 2030, and was targeting exports worth $10 billion only for technical textiles in the next 5 to 6 years, up from exports of $2.5 billion as of now.
For India to climb up in the global textile & apparels (T&A) trade ranking list, the industry will have to scale up capacity, focus on value addition, diversify product basket and raise quality. The recent entrant Bangladesh (now the world’s third largest garment exporter) has capacities that are 10 times that of Indian units. The Government has already announced PLI scheme to promote man-made fibre (MMF) and technical textiles in the country.
To raise production and quality, Indian T&A manufacturers will have to increasingly opt for automation. This Edition’s Cover Story explains know how automation can help textile firms to overcome business challenges and increase their competiveness.
With supply chains being realigned in the post-Covid era and changing geopolitical alignments reinforcing the China Plus One policy, India can emerge as a beacon of economic stability attracting the attention of global investors. Thanks to their world class infrastructure and ‘plug & play’ facilities, the seven PM MITRA parks are expected to help investors to commence production with minimum delays. These integrated facilities will also reduce the cost of manufacturing and make Indian exports of textiles immensely competitive.
With ITMA 2023, Milan, approaching, ITJ will bring out “Special Editions” in May & June 2023 highlighting key trends at the mega trade fair. Along with global textile engineering companies, ITJ will also be present at ITMA 2023 as the Official Media Partner. For more details, please turn to Page 47.
