The new textile policy of Tamil Nadu will be aligned to strengthen Tiruppur’s high standing in value-chain in apparel business, Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, Principal Secretary, Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, said here on Wednesday.

With service sector accounting for 65% of the State’s GDP, the challenge was in enlarging the contribution of manufacturing sector since it was employment oriented next only to agriculture, Mr. Yadav said.

Accompanied by District Collector T. Christuraj, the Principal Secretary inaugurated the 51st India International Knit Fair organised jointly by the Indian Knit Fair Association (IKFA) and the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), a three-day event on the theme: Preserving Our Planet by Innovation and Circularity.

Mr. Yadav expressed hope that Tiruppur, accounting for ₹35,000 crore export business and ₹25,000 crore domestic trade, will take the lead in ESG (Environment and Social Governance), and attract more investments in the garment sector which contributes to women empowerment with them accounting for 80% workforce.

Talking to mediapersons later, the Principal Secretary was said the spinning sector in Tamil Nadu, which constitutes 35% production at the national level, requires modernisation, and the State Government has set apart ₹500 crore corpus to offer 6% interest subvention for industries undertaking modernisation of machinery.

The State Government has given a push to technical textiles, and for scaling up exports in the industrial policy.

A corpus of ₹25 crore has been earmarked for a design centre to focus on research and development in new ways of manufacturing and processing in line with international trends, he said.

A. Sakthivel, Chairman, Indian Knit Fair Association, said 40 out of the 100 buying houses/agents taking part at the fair were from other countries.

The Tiruppur Exporters’ Association was keen on projecting its initiatives towards ‘Green Tiruppur’, Mr. Sakthivel said, exuding hope that the government will consider their request for measures to make improvements in Tiruppur in the area of ESG.

K.M. Subramanian, president, TEA, was hopeful of registering a 10 percentage point rise in diversification to man-made fibres (MMF) by Tiruppur manufacturers from the existing 20.

The emphasis of Rohit Aneja, secretary, Association of NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) Alumni; Rohini Suri, patron, IKFA; and Sanjay Shukla, group leader - Triburg, was on speedy diversification of Tiruppur garment manufacturers to man-made fibres.

Seventy percent of the global trade was in MMF, and cracking the polyster game will place Tiruppur and the country on the right track of development, Mr. Shukla said.

Published on: 4th September 2024

Source: The Hindu