Incentives likely for textiles, auto industry
Minister Smriti Irani says new textile policy on the anvil; govt to focus on extra-long staple cotton
New Delhi: The Textiles Ministry is bringing to fore a structure under which the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for technical textiles and man-made fibre segment will be rolled out, Textiles Minister Smriti Irani said on Friday.
She said the new Textile Policy is on the anvil, observing that the previous national Textile Policy was unveiled two decades ago. The minister was addressing Assocham Foundation Week 2020.
“In 2013-14, in the cotton segment, the MSP operations were only worth Rs 90 crore while last year, the MSP operations in the cotton segment alone reached a value in total of Rs 28,500 crore. This season, in the cotton segment MSP operations worth Rs 14,659 crore have already been undertaken and 9.63 lakh farmers producing cotton in the country have directly received into their bank accounts an amount of Rs 11,799 crore, this is done in only two months,” said the minister.
Besides, Irani said, if you look at extra-long staple cotton, we currently produce only four lakh bales. If the industry conjoins its efforts with farming community and “we raise the potential growth of production of ELS cotton from four lakh bales to 50 lakh bales, then the impact on the Indian cotton textiles industry will be such that we will increase our businesses from the current $18 billion to $80 billion, that is the potential that needs to be leveraged and explored”, the minister stated.
The minister also noted that India has become the second largest manufacturer and exporter of personal protective equipment (PPE).
She said that while the textiles industry was not prepared for, but it rose to this challenge. “It was an effort which involved almost all ministries and industry segments in support of Indian textiles industry.”
Automobile sector
The Heavy Industries Ministry is engaged in close coordination with stakeholders on the Production Linked Incentive scheme which also covers the automobile sector and hopefully it will be rolled out soon, a top official said on Friday.
“Government has come out with a huge outlay for production linked incentives in the manufacturing sector, a big factor of which is auto. So the size is going to be approximately Rs 1.5 lakh crore. “We are now in close coordination with the stakeholders to work out the details and hopefully it will be seeing the light of the day in the final shape very soon,” Secretary in the Heavy Industries Ministry Arun Goel said at a CII Summit.
The Department of Heavy Industries frames and implements policies for the auto sector.
The Union Cabinet last month approved a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth Rs 1.46 lakh crore for 10 sectors to boost domestic manufacturing, create jobs and reduce the dependence on imports.
The scheme will be offered to white goods manufacturing, pharma, auto, telecom, textile, food products, solar photovoltaic and cell battery, among others, with a total outlay of Rs 1,45,980 crore spread over five years.
