To boost manufacturing, the Government has announced to introduce the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
Notably, textile industry is also included in the same, especially manmade Fibre (MMF) segment and technical textiles that are covered under PLI.
An amount of Rs. 10,683 crore has been approved as an outlay for the time period of 5 years. Ministry of Textile (MoT) will be implementing this initiative.
It is pertinent to mention here that various trade bodies were lobbying with the MoT to focus on MMF, while technical textile has been an area of focus for the MoT since last few years.
As per industry estimates, MMF-based apparel is a Rs. 3 lakh crore opportunity in US market alone.
Around 40 HS lines in MMF garments and 10 HS lines in technical textiles account for around US $ 180 billion global trade and, therefore, the scheme would encourage the industry to make investment in the manufacturing of these high value-added products.
This PLI scheme will help Indian apparel sector to build the much-needed scale; it will also bring specialisation as a strategy to garner focus on top MMF products which are in great demand globally.
The scheme will also help to make Indian manufacturers globally competitive and enhance exports. India has been lagging behind in the MMF textile trade due to expensive raw materials and high tariff barriers apart from cheaper imports from neighbouring countries.
Welcoming the decision, Prabhu Dhamodharan, Convenor, Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), Coimbatore said, “We are confident that Indian apparel sector will use this opportunity to build capabilities in MMF sector to achieve double digit growth in exports.”
Ashwin Chandran, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) is of the view that the scheme would greatly benefit the industry to attract huge investments and create jobs of millions of people. “This is a much-needed step as it will further fuel the V-shaped recovery that has begun in many sectors including the apparel sector,” said AEPC Chairman Dr. A. Sakthivel
