The textile industry here has welcomed the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme announced by the Central Government on Wednesday.
The scheme provides incentives for manufacture and export of specific textile products made of man-made fibre (MMF).
According to chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association Ashwin Chandran, the Indian textiles industry has a huge potential for employment creation and boosting exports. It has been allocated ₹ 10,683 crores focusing on MMF apparel and technical textiles. Though India can become a major player in cotton textiles and exports, it has been lagging behind in the MMF textile trade due to expensive raw material and high tariff barriers, apart from cheaper imports from neighbouring countries.
The scheme will benefit the industry in attracting huge investments. About 40 HS lines in MMF garments and 10 HS lines in technical textiles account for nearly $ 180 billion global trade and, therefore, the scheme will encourage the industry to make investment in manufacture of these high value added products.
Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman A. Sakthivel said the scheme would give a boost to exports, investments, domestic capacity and employment. This was a much-needed step as it would fuel the V-shaped recovery that had begun in many sectors, including the apparel sector.
“The fiscal stimulus of ₹10,683 crore to the textile sector, particularly the man-made fibre (MMF) segment and technical textiles, will go a long way in encouraging apparel exporters to foray into MMF garments for which there is a huge demand globally but exports from India is currently low. The impact of this stimulus in generating job opportunities will be maximum in labour-intensive apparel sector,” he said in a press release.
The Indian Texpreneuers Federation convenor Prabhu Dhamodharan said the scheme would enable the apparel sector scale up capacities and also specialise in MMF products. The market for these products was about ₹3 lakh crore in the U.S. alone.
Published On : 11-11-2020
Source : The Hindu
