Taking forward his plans to give a push to the textile industry through increased foreign direct investment, the Union Textiles Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, is all set to launch a road show in Europe.
The programme would be in the form of a tour by a high-level delegation of the industry led by him. It would be in two phases. In the first phase, the team would go to Switzerland, Italy and Turkey from October 26 to November 3 and in the second phase to France and Germany from November 23 to 26.
The focus would be to showcase the potential for setting up greenfield units across the entire textile chain, from textile machinery, and fabric manufacturing to garmenting, manmade fibres and yarn and technical textiles either as individual ventures or through tie-ups with the domestic industry.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Maran exuded confidence that the mission would be successful as it was preceded by a detailed study by consultancy firm Technopak, which had identified potential investors and there was immense interest among them to invest in India.
“Because of the high cost of manufacturing in Europe, industry there is looking at investing in countries with low labour and other costs. India is best suited for them as it has a growing domestic market and also a strong patent regime, apart from the advantage of low cost of production.”
