An indication to this effect was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Textiles (Independent Charge) while inaugurating FICCI conference on 'Strategy for Making India a Global Leader in Textiles and Apparels' organized jointly by FICCI and the Textiles Committee, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.
Shri Gangwar said that the textile ministry was seized of the urgent need to create jobs and upgrading the skills of workers employed in the textiles industry as Unfortunately, in this country we have more engineers but there is woeful shortage of skilled people.
He said that the Ministry was ensuring that work on 20 textile parks is expedited and the technology upgradation plan given a fillip through an investment of Rs. 4000 crore.
He said that recently the Ministry had announced the scheme for setting up of Apparel and Garment Centre for North Eastern states that will augment the capacity in the region for unleashing entrepreneurship and creating a pool of skilled workforce for the apparel sector. The Centre is being set up as part of a landmark initiative announced by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in Nagaland on December 1, 2014. The Prime Minister has announced that an Apparel and Garment Making Centre shall be constructed in all North Eastern states.
Similarly, Shri Gangwar said that the Scheme of Integrated Textile Parks which is one of the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Textiles was held up during the last one year due to administrative bottlenecks and no sanction was given for new parks. The government has moved swiftly to resolve the administrative issues and 13 new textiles parks were approved by the Project Approval Committee (PAC) chaired by him.
In his special address Mr. Sanjay Kumar Panda, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said that the Ministry was working relentlessly to resolve issues of the sector and had initiated measures such as setting up of apparel and garment making centres in North East, where people would also be trained to overcome shortage of skilled manpower in the sector, revival of Integrated Skill Development scheme. He invited suggestions from industry to enhance its effectiveness and focus on ease of doing business to provide a hassle free market environment to industry. He added that after the Prime Minister Modi's Japan visit, the Ministry was working towards setting up a Textile Manufacturing Unit with FDI from Japan.
Speaking on 'Make in India Perspective' in relation to textiles sector Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP, said that to remain competitive in the global market and penetrate new markets it was necessary for the government to completely remove service tax for the textiles sector for five years, enter into a FTA with the EU, restore interest rate subvention, identify new ports for expediting the process of customs clearance and derive at a competitive labour cost to stay relevant in the market. He cautioned that the sector was bound to lose out markets to countries such as Bangladesh and Taiwan if it fails to bring about a concentrated and integrated approach in its outlook.
Mr. Yash Birla, Chairman, Textiles Committee, said In the world of highly competitive world market, the low priced quality product always remained the key to success of any exporting economy. A zero defect approach to manufacturing of the RMGs - the highest value added product in the production chain ensures a defect free product with low cost. Hence, Zero Defect Approach is desirable to inculcate fully in our industry. Further efforts to reduce transaction cost is another essential element of cost reduction and I am happy that the government of India has been engaged to simplify the export procedures and forms so as to reduce transaction cost for efficiently doing business. Textiles Committee will ensure doing its part in the specified time frame.
Mr. Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, FICCI Textiles Committee, said that FICCI has been proposing a fibre neutral policy by rationalizing the duty structure on manmade sector. In order to have a double digit growth in export, we have to expand our product basket to include products where we have insignificant presence viz. winter clothing, sportswear, formal clothing etc. In addition to this, the Central Government should provide incentive to encourage domestic machinery manufacturing in India as much of it is presently being imported from the European Union and China.
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Mr. R C M Reddy, Co-Chairman, FICCI Textiles Committee, said, Textile industry has potential to contribute to Make in India in view of employment intensity and export potential. It is also a very powerful tool for inclusive growth since most of the workforce is women, below poverty line and rural. A holistic approach is needed to consolidate and strengthen the industry covering its entire value chain.
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