Smriti Irani Lauds Ministry’s Effort To Boost Textile Sector In N-E Region

Trade & Policy

Smriti Irani Lauds Ministry’s Effort To Boost Textile Sector In N-E Region

Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani sounded a positive note on the development of the textile industry in the North Eastern region of the country against the backdrop of upcoming elections in some of these states. The minister spoke in depth about the ministry’s effort to upgrade the status of the textile sector in the region. “We had a total outlay for a sum of INR 690 crores that helped set up 21 Readymade Garment manufacturing (RMG) units in these seven states, she added. “Our ministry was focused on growth and upgradation of infrastructure for the textile sector in this region,” she elaborated.

The minister will soon be visiting the north-eastern states to campaign for the polls. In her visit, she plans to participate in the hastkala sahyog shivir (camps in handloom and handicraft clusters). She announced that her focus would be on attending these shivirs or camps. Explaining that she had begun such initiative in the state of Uttar Pradesh, she disclosed that she intends to attend as many number of shivirs as possible in the north east region this time over. The camps are scheduled to be held between February 19 and 24, 2018.

The minister said, “The project will be a great booster for creating more jobs, more so for the women in the region. In addition, it will also result in enhanced infrastructure in the North Eastern region including roads, power, water supply and construction of offices.”

The significance of the handloom sector in the North East region cannot be under-emphasized as revealed by a census taken in 2009-10 which stated in all India has 23.77 lakh handloom units and 16.47 lakh of these units are located in the North Eastern region. This amounts to more than 60 per cent of the total handloom output of the country.

The minister, in an interaction with the media , said, “There are 21 readymade garment manufacturing units which have already become fully operational in the seven states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. The one in Sikkim is under construction. Three factories have become fully operational in each of the seven states in a record time of two years. Each factory employs around 1,200 people, mainly women. The factories are owned by local entrepreneurs and agencies like the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India, Arvind Mills and Apparel Export Promotion Council are guiding the entrepreneurs as part of the pilot project.”

The union textile ministry has provided INR 18 crore for each RMG unit. At the same time, the state governments have provided INR 1.5 crore worth land per unit. The constructions have been undertaken by the NBCC.

The textile minister also made mention of the initiatives by the Centre in the form of 39 per cent increase in allocation for remission of state levies (ROSL) during the Union Budget. “This will go a long way in boosting textile exports,” she said, echoing Jaitley’s announcement that allocation under the ROSL scheme has been reaised from INR 1,555 crore to INR 2,163.85 crore for the year 2017-18.

The minister also pointed out other allocations such as the one made for the technology upgradation fund scheme (TUFS), which has been raised by 15 percent. “All these initiatives compounded with the INR 6,000 crore package announced for the apparel sector in the previous year will help boost Indian textile exports,” she opined.

Giving particulars of amounts already released, she said, "The government has given the textile industry close to INR 1,800 crore as part of the package in the previous year. Another INR 300 crore will soon be released.”