“Maharashtra, Gujarat invite textile investments”

In the long run, Tamil Nadu does not seem to be attractive for new projects

The textile industry in Tamil Nadu can look for options in States such as Maharashtra and Gujarat if it wants to expand its production base to other States.

Maharashtra and Gujarat governments have come out with textile policies to encourage investment in their States. The features of the policies were explained to textile mill owners here at a meeting organised by the Southern India Mills’ Association recently.

The textile units should not have problems in areas such as power if they invested in Maharashtra, Sunil Porwal, Secretary for Textiles, Government of Maharashtra, told

The Hindu .

In the western State, it is a problem of cost and not availability of power.

“We are working on how to reduce power tariff,” according to Mr. Porwal. Another main problem is related to discharge from processing units. With a long coastline in Maharashtra, the best possible means can be adopted to manage the discharge, he said.

Maharashtra came out with a textile policy about six months ago. It has introduced an interest subsidy scheme linked to the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme of the Union government.

The State has a large number of ginning and pressing, and weaving units. However, just 20 per cent of the cotton produced in the State is spun by the mills in Maharashtra. The rest goes to other States and countries, he said.

SIMA Chairman S. Dinakaran said a presentation was also made on facilities in Gujarat for the textile industry.

The State has textile parks and special economic zones. Gujarat already has a large number of textile units and is the largest producer of cotton in the country. But, spinning is the segment which is missing in the State.

For textile mills in Tamil Nadu, the cost of transport of cotton from growing centres to the mills has shot up. The units have also been hit by power and labour shortage.

In the long run, Tamil Nadu does not seem to be attractive for new projects. Hence, the mills are looking at different locations. The association is facilitating talks with different States for the interested mills.

It held a similar meeting on Karnataka and plans to organise sessions on facilities in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh too.