Business

Indian Govt. promises early notification of revised TUFS

Annual Conference of Indian State Textile Ministers

1. TUFS is in the final stage of revision, will be notified soon: Government

2. Textiles Policy at an advanced stage of finalisation

3. States should make more provisions for schemes transferred to them: Government

4. Government has amended guidelines for mega textile parks; states need to make land available

5. For adopting best technology under Scheme for Integrated Textile Processing Development, a committee involving IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and Textile Research Associations has been formed

The Government of India held the Annual Conference of State Textiles Ministers 2015 on November 4, 2015. The purpose of the conference was to assess the existing position and formulate strategy for exploiting the potential of the textile sector. The conference was chaired by Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Textiles (I/C).

Ministers in charge of textile matters of nine states, namely Bismita Gogoi (Assam), Chander Prakash (J&K), H. Rohluna (Mizoram), Amenba Yaden (Nagaland), Snehangini Chhuria (Odisha), Gajendra Singh Khimsar (Rajasthan), S. Gokul Indira (Tamil Nadu), Brahma Sankar Tripathi (Uttar Pradesh), Jupally Krishna Rao (Telangana) and B.D. Chakma (Mizoram) attended the conference and participated in the proceedings. Apart from ministers of these nine states, senior official of 16 other states too participated in the conference.

Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Textiles (I/C) said that since the last Textiles Ministers’ Conference in September 2014, the government of India has intensified its focus on improving governance and service delivery to the common man in the textile sector. He said that to this end, the government has endeavoured to maintain close liaison with state governments for supporting the textile industry, with a view to promoting production and employment in various segments of the sector. The Minister said that the government’s efforts in this direction have been guided by the vision and governance principles of the Prime Minister - of making development participative and inclusive, with stress on skill, scale and speed, following the motto of “zero defect, zero effect”.

Gangwar pointed out that the Ministry of Textiles has taken action on several of the suggestions and requests made by the states in the 2014 conference. He highlighted successes in the areas of textile parks, Apparel and Garment Making Centres in the North Eastern Region, handloom promotion, cotton procurement, skill development and turnaround of National Textiles Corporation, to name a few.

Dr. S. K. Panda, Secretary (Textiles) gave a brief presentation on various schemes, programmes and initiatives being undertaken by the Ministry, for the promotion of Indian textile sector. He outlined the vision and strategy of the Government for the textile sector, based on the philosophy of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas’, with the following key components:

• Consolidate promotion of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture, jute, wool for production as per market demand

• Provision of skill as per industry requirements

• Promotion of export of apparel and garment for generation of employment

• Development of infrastructure, textile parks; attention to treatment of effluent in the processing sector

• Continuing support to the textile industry under Textile Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) with suitable amendments

• Improve “Ease of doing business”

• Promotion of technical textiles

The Secretary also gave a glimpse of the achievements of the Ministry:

• Under SITP, 22 new Textile Parks have been sanctioned; the scheme has been amended to extend benefits to all states

• Landmark initiative on Apparel & Garments units in North Eastern States

• National Handloom Day launched along with India Handloom brand by Hon’ble Prime Minister

• Largest ever MSP operations conducted to support cotton farmers

• Jute Diversification: CFC Schemes launched to support Women’s SHGs

• ISDS Scaled up - 4.60 lakh persons trained up to October 2015

• IPDS Scheme - 4 projects sanctioned

• NTC turned around - land earmarked for Memorial of Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

The state ministers gave their considered views and suggestions on various issues relating to the sector, such as promotion of handlooms and handicrafts, textile processing, textile parks, sericulture, mega clusters and other state specific issues.

1. Minister from Assam sought special support for sericulture

2. Ministers from both Assam and J&K expressed the need to have additional campuses of NIFT

3. Telangana requested that the procurement of cotton through MSP operations be strengthened

4. Textile ministers from Nagaland and Mizoram asked for increase in the allocation under NERTPS

5. Tamil Nadu minister expressed the need for additional support for handloom weavers

6. Odisha minister asked for special support for handloom sector

7. Rajasthan minister said that in view of issues faced by the textile processing industry, special support should be given to the sector under IPDS

8. Uttar Pradesh minister sought more support for powerloom cluster.

Dr. Panda spoke of the need and importance for government officials to visit other states, in order to pick up and implement best practices. With reference to the concerns raised during the conference, the Secretary said that the government is very sensitive to the requirements of North East India as well as Jammu & Kashmir; he added that the approach of the Ministry is to focus on quality production and branding, and not on subsidies.

Some important pointers from Dr Panda included:

1. Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) – The scheme is in the final stage of revision and that it will be notified soon

2. Mega textile parks - Government has amended guidelines for mega textile parks; states need to make land available and motivate entrepreneurs to come forward

3. Scheme for Integrated Textile Processing Development - A committee involving IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and Textile Research Associations have been formed, so that the best possible technology can be adopted for the same

4. Textiles Policy – The policy is at an advanced stage of finalisation.

The Secretary also requested the states to make provisions for schemes which have been transferred to them. “This is necessary for the states in view of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission to increase state share of central taxes from 32% to 42%,” he said. He complimented states such as Tamil Nadu which have made very specific provisions to help the textile sector.