Shawl Club India, Textile Manufacturing Association welcome Amritsar-Delhi-Kolakata Corridor proposal

The Shawl Club India, an Association of Woolmark Shawl Licensees in India, and the Textile Manufacturing Association, have welcomed the government's nod for the proposed Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata industrial corridor, which is expected to fuel both growth and employment opportunities.

Stretching over 1,900 km, and covering the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the project would also cover major industrial hubs such as Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has given his approval to the project, has appointed an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) headed by the Secretary to the Department of Industrial Policy and promotion (DIPP), to prepare a feasibility report on the proposed project within a month.

The panel will examine the feasibility to set up the Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor along with the structural and financing arrangements that would be required to operationalise the project at the earliest.

Secretaries of Economic Economic Affairs, Road Transport, Shipping and the Chairman of the Railway Board will also be a part of the committee.

The Shawl Club of India and the Textile Manufacturing Association said the corridor would promote development in the backward parts of Amritsar District.

They also said they have written to Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh for a reduction in the interest rate of banks and financial institutions for small and medium Enterprises (SMEs).

In a press statement issued here, the club's general secretary, Piara Lal Seth, and H.S.Makhni, general secretary of the Textile Manufacturers Association, described it as bold step, and added that it would provide jobs for the youth and opportunities for industry and trade in the northern region, including Punjab.

"We had always been lobbying for the border area to be included in the corridor and the government has finally agreed," they said in their press statement.

They revealed that India has about 4.88 crore SMEs that employ 8.11 crore people. This sector, they said, has the potential to grow at an exceptional rate to become one of the prime drivers of the Indian economy.

They said that the SME sector is already contributing upto nine per cent of the country's GDP and 36 per cent of total exports.

"The textile sector is the second largest employment provider segment after agriculture. This sector is facing acute problems from global markets, including China, and we need support from the government," they said in their letter to the Prime Minister.

"We request you (PM) to kindly consider making funds available to the SMEs and textile sector at seven per cent per annum to make the sector relevant in the face of rising competition," they added.