Textiles now form 15% of India’s exports

Fifteen per cent of India’s exports now come from textiles industry, signifying the sector’s growth, Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday, showcasing the Ministry’s achievements of the past two years.

According to the Ministry, apparel and handicrafts recorded 22 per cent growth, while textile exports grew by eight per cent during last two years compared with the previous two years.

“More than Rs 6,500 crore has been spent by the Ministry of Textiles on various schemes for promotion and development of the textiles sector. Approximately five lakh additional jobs have been created in the past two years in the sector,” Gangwar said.

The Ministry also aims to increase the earning of handloom weavers to Rs 500 per day.

Gangwar also said 24 new Textile Parks have been sanctioned in the last two years under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks with a potential investment of Rs.4500 crore and employment for 66,000 people.

The Minister said the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) which was rolled out in January 2016 with a budget provision of Rs.17,822 crores for the next seven years, is expected to attract an investment of Rs. One lakh crore and generate employment for 30 lakh people.

Gangwar said a number of initiatives have been taken to revive the handloom sector with the emphasis on increasing the weavers’ income and attracting the younger generation to the profession.

On efforts to promote an organised textile industry in the north-east, Gangwar said apparel and garment making units were inaugurated in April 2016 in Nagaland and Tripura, and in Mizoram earlier this month.

“I am very proud to say that an Apparel and Garment Making Centre in every state in the North Eastern Region, leading to enterprise in textile sector, is now a dream turned into reality. The units in Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram have already been inaugurated. In the remaining states, (except in Sikkim) the infrastructure is ready and entrepreneurs have been identified for handing over the units,” he said.

Gangwar also said that the largest ever planned Minimum Support Price (MSP) operation was carried out by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for cotton growers.

“To safeguard interests of domestic cotton growers, a well-planned, largest ever Minimum Support Price operation was carried out by the Cotton Corporation of India in the 2014- 2015 season in all 11 cotton producing States. This operation was successful, with procurement crossing 86 lakh bales up to March 30, 2015; and as I speak to you today, out of this stock of 86 lakh bales, only 60,000 bales are left in our stock, the rest has been sold.

“Apart from this, in the 2015-16 season too, we have procured around nine lakh bales through MSP operations, out of which we have a stock of three lakh bales at present,” he said.

Under the Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS), 3.75 lakh youth have been trained in textile trades and 70 per cent of the trainees provided jobs.

Also, textile projects were launched in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Haryana, Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab under ISDS in the last two years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched ‘India Handloom’ brand on August 7, 2015.

“India Handloom brand is aimed at promoting high value handloom products with new design, zero defects (in fabrics), zero effect (on environment) and assurance to consumers about genuineness and the quality of products,” the minister said.

Packaging of food grains in jute bags has been mandated to help jute producers and manufacturers after the Jute Common Facility Centre Scheme was launched in September 2015, he said.