COIMBATORE: Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the government is mulling over coming up with one more Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the textile sector soon. He made the announcement while addressing SIMA Texfair 2022 here on Saturday.
“The textiles sector also has PLI scheme in which a large amount of investment is coming up all across the country, including in Tamil Nadu. We are coming up with one more PLI scheme in textiles sector,” he said. “We will create crores of jobs in the textiles sector so that our compatriots get a better quality of life and more prosperity and our farmers get a higher price for wonderful cotton that they are producing,” Goyal added.
The minister said that the textiles sector has a big role to play in the economy of Tamil Nadu, providing jobs and coming up with research and innovation to expand the exports from Tamil Nadu. “Some of the products made in Coimbatore and Tirupur are exported to world-class brands like Puma, Zara, etc,” he said.
Goyal reminded that when there was a shortage of PPE kits, PM Narendra Modi made a clarion call to the textiles sector to start manufacturing of PPE kits in India. The minister complimented the textile manufacturers for the wonderful work they did to develop so many products related to fighting Covid-19 in India.
“Today, we are the second-largest manufacturers of PPE in the world. We are not only Aatmanirbhar in PPE kits, but we are also exporting it to other parts of the world,” he said. “The textile industry converted the Covid crisis into an opportunity. And now, it will help us in becoming a global player in medical and health-related products,” he added.
Goyal said that India’s textile sector will grow to become a $250 billion industry in the next five years, 40 per cent of which will be exported.
“The government supported the textiles industry throughout the pandemic with 20 per cent additional collateral-free loans and up to 5 per cent interest subvention, extension of time limit for repayment of loans and government dues and funding EPF. Tamil Nadu is a big beneficiary of various schemes that we have come up with in the last few years and will continue to benefit from the Government of India’s various initiatives to support the textiles sector.”
“South India Textile Research Association is a good example of industry-sponsored research, which benefits all players and promotes cooperative competition,” he said. Responding to a question on cotton prices, Goyal said that cotton textiles prices have already started easing and cotton is becoming more affordable. “Cotton prices are driven by international markets.”
Talking about the importance of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with foreign countries, he said,
machinery manufacturers have told that the FTAs have become very useful for them. “They are confident that machinery export will grow as these FTAs finalize.”
Goyal said that the government have already finalized two FTAs with the UAE and Australia. “We are now finalizing FTAs with Israel, the UK, Canada, European Union. We are working to support and promote entrepreneurs and startups. We are working to reduce compliance and make it easier to run a business. Over 31,000 compliances have been eliminated.”
Addressing a press conference here later in the day, Goyal said, “We have announced that the government has no business to be in business. The NTC runs on the government taxpayers’ money For textile industry to flourish in fair competition, we are examining whether NTC can run professionally and profitably.”
“Cotton textiles prices have already started easing and cotton is becoming more affordable. Under the Samarth scheme, two lakh beneficiaries have been trained, out of which 1.7 lakh candidates have been provided placement opportunities in Tamil Nadu,” he added. (ANI)