States to compete for MITRA textiles scheme

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 13, 2021

The Ministry of Textiles plans to follow a ‘challenge method’ to select states which will be approved as locations for its Mega Investment Textiles Parks scheme, due to a great amount of interest in the initiative. 

“We are expecting that in the next 15 days, we will get [cabinet] approval on the MITRA scheme,” textiles secretary UP Singh told the Press Trust of India.

The ministry will, “follow a challenge method to select states,” due to very high levels of interest from numerous states, some of which want multiple parks in their state, according to Singh. 

The MITRA scheme is designed to boost India’s textile industry and will see the construction of six or seven textile parks in the country. These parks will be manufacturing hubs, create employment, and enable access to state of the art textile technology. 
 
After floating expressions of interest, the ministry will seek documents from interested states and then conduct an evaluation to decide on which states are best suited to the scheme. Deciding factors will include raw materials available and suitable land available. The scheme was included in the government’s Union Budget for the 2022 financial year and is currently in its final stages of approval. 
 
“We need competition among states to capture business opportunities and we will see that competition in the MITRA scheme,” said Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal. “We have to finalise six to seven textile parks. States will have to commit for land, labour laws, infrastructure and power at attractive rates.”