Cabinet clears 7 mega textile parks, aims to create 21 lakh jobs

The scheme which will be implemented by states will provide capital development support of Rs 500 crore for Greenfield parks while for the expansion of existing plants, the Centre would provide a capital development support of Rs 200 crore, which will be given in the form of viability gap funding, writes ETV Bharat's Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday cleared a Rs 4,445 crore capital support scheme for setting up seven mega industrial parks for the textile sector in the next five years that will help in creating 7 lakh direct jobs and 21 lakh indirect jobs, said the textile minister Piyush Goyal.

The scheme, known as the PM Mitra scheme, is aimed at creating an integrated value chain in the textile sector involving multiple processes at one place such as spinning, weaving, processing and dyeing, printing and garment manufacturing at a single location.

Textile minister Piyush Goyal said there was immense scope for a country like India in the field of technical textiles and man-made fibres which account for the bulk of global demand.

The scheme which will be implemented by states will provide capital development support of Rs 500 crore for Greenfield parks while for the expansion of existing plants, the Centre would provide a capital development support of Rs 200 crore, which will be given in the form of viability gap funding.

These parks will be developed by the Centre and States in public-private partnership model and the master developer will have to maintain the industrial park for five years.

Ten States expressed interest for textile parks

Goyal said ten states, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana have already expressed interest in the scheme and winners will be selected through a competitive process.

These seven mega textile parks will be in addition to 66 textile parks already approved by the government in the past, out of which nearly 56 parks are already fully or partially functional.

“The existing textile parks are small, with an area 25-40 acres or little more. These 7 mega parks are huge and States will have to arrange a minimum 1,000 acres of land,” textile secretary Upendra Singh told ETV Bharat.

Singh said after today’s cabinet decision, the Centre will issue the guidelines and the work on these parks is expected to start by March-April next year.

“The first park may be operational by 2025-26. It can be done earlier as well,” he said.

Mega Textile Parks

These integrated textile parks are aimed at developing the entire textile supply chain, from farm to fibre, fibre to factory, factory to fashion, fashion to foreign, to reduce the logistic cost that makes Indian products uncompetitive in the global market.

These mega textile parks will have an incubation centre, plug and play facilities, developed factory sites, roads, power, water and wastewater management system.

It will also have common processing centres to speed up the export process, other related facilities such as design and testing centres and other supporting infrastructure such as worker’s hostels, housing, warehousing, medical and skill training facilities.

While half of the area will be reserved for pure manufacturing activities, 20% area will be reserved for utilities and 10% land will be kept aside for commercial development.