India’s major growth of textiles will come from man-made fibre industry, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Commerce & Industry in New Delhi recently. Goyal was interacting with industry representatives, including producers of PTA, MEG, Fibre, Yarn, Fabric and Garments, the Union Textile Ministry said.
“We should aspire to reach a stage where the entire demand is fulfilled by domestic supply thus making the industry Atma Nirbhar. This will secure the raw material availability to lakhs of weavers involved in the polyester value chain, thereby leading to enhanced production of finished goods, enabling realization of the export targets,” Goyal said.
The Union Minister suggested that the Textile industry should understand each other and work in synergy to amicably resolve issues among the producers and users of polyester in the entire value chain. The industry representatives expressed the hope of achieving $100 bn export in the next five to six years, the release stated.
The industry representatives said the expansion of production capacity of key raw materials for manufacturing of Polyester viz Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Monoethylene Glycol (MEG) is essential for increased production of downstream industry. Additional capacities of PTA are being set up and lakhs of looms are also being installed by the downstream industry which is still fragmented, they added.
Meanwhile, the textile manufacturers should start securing cotton to meet their demands. Besides, all those involved with cotton industry should meet to discuss the strategy to ensure traceability of cotton and better value of the cotton products, said Goyal during a video conference with members of Export Promotion Councils. The virtual meeting was convened with senior representatives of all the 11 Export Promotion Councils under the Ministry of Textiles.
Goyal said a two-day meeting should be organized to discuss new ideas on strengthening the Textile sector. At least 50 per cent participants should be youngsters and there should be involvement of Quality Control of India (QCI), Commerce, DPIIT, Finance, Banking Export Insurance for holistic engagement so as overarching themes may be discussed, he suggested.
The Union Minister said that last year, Textile export was approx. $42 bn while the target is to achieve $100 bn by next 5-6 years. He mentioned that if achieved, the economic value of the sector will be $250 bn collectively for domestic and international.
Goyal also introduced Rachna Shah, with the EPCs, who will be taking charge as Secretary, Ministry of Textile on November 1, 2022 after superannuation of UP Singh, Secretary Textile on October 31, 2022.
He directed Shah should visit the textile hubs like in Surat, Noida, Tiruppur-Coimbatore and others. In addition, applications proposed under PM Mitra around these hubs may also be visited for observation and recording response of the industry representatives.
He said that funds are available under Textile Mission and should be utilized in new projects. He added the potential of Textile Sector may be showcased in G-20. Participation of industry representatives in the shopping festivals recently announced by the Finance Minister may also be pursued, he said.
The representatives at the virtual conference included Apparel Export Promotion Council (Chairman, Narendra Goenka), Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Chairman, Sunil Patwari), Carpet Export Promotion Council (Chairman, Umar Hameed), Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (Executive Director, R.K Verma), to name some. In addition, representatives of industry associations’ viz. the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, Tiruppur Exporters Association and the Southern India Mills’ Association also participated in the meeting.
