The Prime Minister last week announced that PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (MITRA) textile parks would be set up in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. These proposed parks, which will operate in public-private partnership mode, will jointly be owned by the Central and state governments. No doubt, this is welcome news.

According to official figures, the textile sector’s contribution to GDP in terms of percentage share of industrial output stands at around 7% during the last three years. It is employing around 45 million people across the country. The Centre launched the PM-MITRA scheme to boost the sector further by setting up 7 Mega Textiles Parks over a period of 3 years, and the last week’s announcement is a big move forward.

It is expected that under the scheme, which will integrate the whole textile value chain right from spinning to garment manufacturing, will create 20 lakh jobs and attract FDI worth 70,000 crore. The Prime Minister tweeted that PM MITRA mega textile parks will boost the textile sector in line with 5F (farm to fibre to factory to fashion to foreign) vision. This sounds ambitious yet achievable.

India’s textile and apparel exports for FY 2022 stood at $44.4 billion, an increase of 41 percent compared to the previous year, and considering the huge employment generating and export potential prowess of the sector, the Centre now aims to increase textile exports to $100 billion by 2030. We all hope, the PM MITRA will contribute to this effort in a big way, pushing the sector to a new height in the years to come.

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