Centre to launch National Coir Mission

To generate more jobs by 2022; Focus on product diversification

The Government of India is planning to declare a National Coir Policy and roll out a National Coir Mission with the objective of raising the export of coir products to ₹20,000 crore by the year 2022 and generating an additional 20 lakh jobs.

Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh told a press conference here on Monday that the mission would also seek to expand the domestic market to ₹40,000 crore over the next four years.

During 2016-17, India exported 9,57,045 metric tonnes of coir products worth ₹2281.65 cr to 115 countries, with China accounting for 40% of the total sales, he said. The target for 2017-18 was fixed at ₹2300 cr.

The Minister, who is in the city to attend the Coir Board meeting on Tuesday, said efforts were on to diversify the range of coir-based products and set up manufacturing units across India. The Central Institute of Coir Technology (CICT), Bengaluru had developed coir plywood that could be used as panelling and acoustic material.

The product would be launched in the market soon. Moves were on to promote mass manufacture of coir-based handicrafts, he added.

Showroom modernisation

Simultaneously, the Coir Board was undertaking a project to modernise its showrooms and sales depots to attract footfalls.

The Minister is scheduled to inaugurate a modernised showroom here on Tuesday. Similar outlets were being established at Patna, Jammu, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai and Tirupur. All the showrooms would be equipped for digital payments.

Mr. Singh said the Ministry was establishing a network of Common Facility Centres across Kerala to provide manufacturing facilities for more than 10,000 small-scale manufacturers and workers.

The CFCs would be equipped to manufacture coir needle felt, handicrafts, coir panels, geotextiles and coir pith.

While 500 coir artisans would benefit from the CFC set up at Neyyatinkara, another CFC was ready for commissioning at Balussery in Kozhikode and a third one was nearing completion at Haripad.

Mr. Singh said the ministry was studying a proposal to set up three more coir clusters in Kerala.

He added that the government was also undertaking a cadre restructuring exercise in the Coir Board to improve the career prospects of employees.