CITI hails scheme for development of knitwear sector

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has welcomed the launch of the much awaited ‘Comprehensive Scheme for the Development of Knitting & Knitwear Sector with various components under PowerTex India’.

The two primary components of the scheme are creation of new service centres and modernisation and upgrading of existing service centres.

“It is a historic step which would create value to the bottom of the pyramid. Since the knitting and knitwear industry is predominantly MSME in size and mainly located in decentralised sector, the scheme will help to promote knitting and knitwear sector and thereby achieve the inclusive growth in the country and is a positive step to fulfil our Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ dream,” said CITI chairman Sanjay K Jain.

The scheme will enhance the sector’s contribution to the nation building as knitting and knitwear sector is one of the major segments of the entire textile value chain and contributes about 27 per cent of the total fabric production and about 15 per cent of knitted fabric is being exported besides export of knitted apparel, said Jain. He further informed that the share of knitted garments in value terms is about 38 per cent in overall export of clothing.

Despite the knitwear sector growing at a much faster pace than weaving, it had been neglected till date and all schemes were just targeted for handloom and powerloom sectors despite this segment being of similar nature and character, he added.

Today knitwear is in everyone’s wardrobe in the form of innerwear, socks, t-shirts, leggings, etc and its clusters badly needed this support. The new initiative will change the structure of knitwear industry in the coming days, with Tiruppur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Kanpur and NCR clusters benefiting the most, Jain said.

“The scheme will help to promote innovation by bringing in latest designs, brands, skill development and upgradation. The scheme will also help to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability in the textile sector. It will catalyse more investment and employment in textile industry and will provide base for export of knitted apparel from the country,” he added.