Govt to set up 25 integrated textile parks

To blunt the criticism of its decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment in the retail sector, the government has announced that it intends to set up 25 integrated textile parks across the country in the next 18 months to improve the competitiveness of the domestic industry.

Other steps it plans to boost the local industry are rationalisation of the existing excise duty structure, removing infrastructural bottlenecks and creation of a congenial business environment by reducing the cost of production, Textile Minister Shankersinh Vaghela said while inaugurating the International Fashion Technology Forum, organised by the National Institute of Fashion Technology here.

He quoted surveys that point to potential of the Indian textile and apparel industry to reach a size of $85 billion by 2010, of which $45 billion would be realised from domestic sales.

Vaghela referred to a WTO study, which said that Indian textile and apparel sector would be the second-largest beneficiary of the dismantling of quotas and confirmed that the industry was poised for significant growh.

He announced that the NIFT Bill, 2006, had been passed by the Rajya Sabha and was scheduled to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 22.

The Bill would give Nift the status of an institute of national importance and transform it into a centre of excellence in research and a nodal agency for training technical trainers.

The Bill provides for appointment of two MPs from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha to the governing body of NIFT and changes the definition of "fashion" to include craft and intellectual aspects of fashion.

NIFT would be able to award degrees and other academic distinctions after the passage of the Bill, Vaghela said.

This is bound to directly affect about 4500 students currently on the rolls. The institute has branches in seven cities in the country.