Investments to the tune of Rs. 2,400 crore by eight major textile processing companies in Maharashtra’s suicide belt of Vidarbha and Marathwada are expected to generate employment in the near future, besides alleviating the cycle of farmer suicides in the region.
Eight major companies, including Oswal Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd., Ginni International Ltd., Jindal Poly Films Ltd., Jaideep Group of Industries and Shyam Indospin Ltd. are to invest in the cotton-producing regions of Marathwada, Vidarbha and Khandesh, said State Textiles Minister Arif Naseem Khan on Monday.
These companies had already submitted their Letters of Intent, said Mr. Khan, stating that an additional investment of Rs. 4,000 crore was expected to be generated once the companies set up shop in the cotton-belt.
The move would definitely aid in altering the vicious cycle of farmer suicides in the region as farmers would now get a better deal for their cotton produce, said Mr. Khan.
“If ginning and pressing mills were ushered in in the belt, competition would automatically be generated that would prove beneficial to the farmer,” he said, adding that 2,000 jobs had already been created in the region.
In March this year, the State Cabinet formulated a textile policy that aimed to rake in investment to the tune of Rs. 40,000 crores and create employment opportunities for almost 12 lakh people in the cotton-growing belts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh (northwestern Maharashtra).
Among the highlights of the policy was the provision of 12.5 per cent interest subsidy and 10 per cent capital subsidy for new co-operative and private sector textile units coming-up in these regions.
Earlier, the Central government had assented to the setting-up of 14 textile parks in the State.
