In a bid to boost the spinning sector in the state, Gujarat government plans to supply lignite on a long term basis. The government has been continually taking steps in recent times to develop spinning sector which has so far been a weak vertical of the entire textile value chain in Gujarat.
"We have asked GMDC to enter into special agreement with spinning units for long term supply of lignite. Tamil Nadu provides sector specific subsidy to spinning units, which Gujarat doesn't do so. But in order to boost the vertical we will provide long term lignite for captive power generation," said Saurabh Patel, minister of state for industries, Gujarat government, in his speech at the inaugural session of a seminar on growth and opportunities for technical textiles sector in Gujarat.
The seminar was held by the Government of Gujarat and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the support of Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Ahmedabad Textile Industries Research Association (ATIRA) and Man Made Textile Research Association (MANTRA). According to Patel, the government will try to provide lignite at rates competitive to that prevalent in the market currently.
Talking about the spinning sector, Patel also said that the state should not see its cotton going out for spinning but rather fill up the gap in the value chain by strengthening spinning vertical.
According to Patel, the state has around 1,000 technical textiles units. "The state government has been making efforts to grow the technical textiles vertical as well. We hope to see more number of technical textiles units being added to the current number of 1,000," he added.
Meanwhile, Maheshwar Sahu, principal secretary, industry and mines, Government of Gujarat said the world market for technical textiles is at $250 billion, of which at least 10 per cent should come from India in near future.