The Union Ministry of Textiles will give a thrust to the weaving sector during the XII Plan period.
Speaking at the inaugural of the ninth edition of India ITME, a six-day textile machinery exhibition, here on Sunday, Textiles Commissioner A. B. Joshi said that processing was one of the weak links of the textile value chain, and the XI Plan focussed on the processing sector. “We need to improve the weaving sector now,” he said. Hence, the policy prescriptions would be high for this segment and it would be in different forms such as subsidy and interest subventions.
Apart from the support of the Union Government through the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), several State governments too had textile policies and the textile machinery manufacturers should see these as an opportunity for investment.
Mr. Joshi later told The Hindu that the total allocation for the TUFS in the XII Plan would be about Rs.10,000 crore. Some amount would be used for carry-over liabilities and the balance would be for the five-year period. It was planned to have cap on allocations under the scheme for the spinning segment and there would not be cap on amount available for other segments in the textile value chain. The details would be finalised in a couple of months, he said.
Christian P. Schindler, Director General, International Textile Manufacturers’ Federation, said India had enormous market for textiles and textile machinery. With growing population, increase in per capita income and emergence of new applications for textiles, the future was good for textiles globally.
Rajashree Birla, Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, inaugurated the exhibition on Sunday.
Rajnikant Bachkaniwala, Chairman of India ITME, told presspersons here on Monday that the event had 817 participants and over a lakh of visitors were expected. Switzerland, Germany and China were some of the largest overseas participants at the fair. The event included launch of new products and display of innovative concepts.
