The Tiruppur Exporters Association has urged the Tamil Nadu Government to declare the Tiruppur knitwear cluster as a “sustainable cluster”.
In a memorandum submitted to the government detailing the industries’ demands in the State budget, the Association said sustainability was the most discussed topic globally in the textile supply chain. After the European Union’s announcement of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the importance of environment sustainability had gained momentum. The Tiruppur knitwear cluster had made huge investments in zero liquid discharge, green energy and tree plantations to ensure that Tiruppur cluster became an ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) compliant cluster.
The government should also announce capital subsidies for investment made to fulfil ESG norms.
K.M. Subramanian, president of the Association, said in the memorandum that the garment units in Tiruppur had invested heavily in wind and solar energy and at present, renewable energy generation by the cluster was four times its electricity needs. So Tiruppur knitwear cluter was “carbon negative”.
The small-scale exporting units could not invest in renewable energy and hence the government should create common green energy facilities through a special purpose vehicle that would include the small-scale units. The government should support these units with subsidy so that the special purpose vehicle or the small-scale units invested in green energy.
“We particularly request to subsidise the CETP’s and IETP’s for installing wind /solar power capacities,” he added.
The Association also said the textile park scheme should be revamped after consultations with the stakeholders. Tiruppur contributed to almost 55% of India’s knitwear exports and it needed support to remain competitive, he said.
