Tamilnadu textiles and clothing accounts 1/3rd of the textile business size, 45 percent of the spinning capacity, 70 percent of the knitted garment capacity, 40 percent of the home textiles manufacturing capacity, 22 percent of the powerloom capacity, 12 percent of handloom capacity, 60 percent of yarn exports, providing direct jobs to over 60 lakh people and the only State having presence of whole textile value chain, has been playing a pivotal role in the country’s economy as the textile industry being the second largest employment provider of the Nation, next only to agriculture.
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Thiru.M.K.Stalin, having realized the importance of fuelling the growth of textile industry in the State took several policy initiatives.
Ravi Sam, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has thanked the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Thiru.M.K.Stalin, Hon’ble Minister for Handlooms & Textiles, Thiru. R. Gandhi and Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Thiru. Thangam Thennarasu for the right initiatives. He has appreciated the Government for enhancing the free power supply to the powerloom sector from 750 units to 1000 units. He said that this announcement would strengthen the competitiveness of the powerloom sector in Tamilnadu benefitting 1.64 lakh powerloom weavers who account around 25 percent of the woven fabrics production in the country and play a major role in exports.
SIMA Chairman has said that the announcements through the State Budget 2023-24 are initiatives in the right direction, specifically the new SIPCOT industrial parks to be set up in Virudhunagar, Vellore, Kallakurichi and Coimbatore is a welcome move and is the need of the hour. The recent announcement by the Union Government, allocating a Park to Tamil Nadu (at a cost of Rs.1,800 cr in Virudhunagar district and for this purpose 1,052 acres of land would be acquired and completed by SIPCOT) through the PM MITRA mega textile park scheme and the infrastructure support extended by the government of Tamil Nadu through this budget, would increase the scale of operation and value-addition. This facility is expected to provide infrastructure facility for textile processing, the weakest link in the whole textile value chain. He has also welcomed the announcement of 10 mini handloom parks with a total outlay of Rs.20 cr to upgrade the standard of handloom products by using latest technologies and creating market linkages.
Ravi Sam has welcomed the announcement of new industrial parks in the clusters of Virudhunagar, Vellore, Kallakurichi, and Coimbatore at an estimated cost of Rs.410 cr for providing employment opportunities to nearly 22,000 persons. He has stated that industrial housing facility to be established in the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Gangaikondan at an estimated cost of Rs.50 cr to accommodate 1,500 employees is a welcome move.
He has said that the Target fixed to double the installed power generation capacity by 2030 and increase the share of green energy to 50 percent is laudable, more so, when the export market scenario is prioritizing sustainability and utilizing green energy would go a long way in supporting the textile manufacturing exporters.
Ravi Sam has appreciated the announcement regarding scaling up skill training infrastructure in a massive way, where factories have been proposed to be used as Skill Development Centres. Industries will be incentivized to provide on-the-job-training to youth in factories. In this Budget, an amount of Rs.25 crore has been allocated for this “Factory Skill Schools‟ programme. He also welcomed the announcement of the state-of-the-art Skill Development Centre to be established, at an estimated cost of Rs.80 crore, in SIPCOT Industrial Park in Krishnagiri District, which is emerging as the third largest industrial cluster in the State. The announcement regarding establishment of Start-up Mission to address the difficulties faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing adequate, timely credit and marketing of products is a welcome measure, said Ravi Sam. This mission will encourage women entrepreneurs in all aspects of their business, says Ravi Sam.
He further appreciated the Government for announcing that a new Textile Policy would be released with a focus on holistic development of the entire value chain, latest design development and textile machinery manufacturing.
He said that it is heartening to note that the GDP growth in the State is higher than the national average showing, a positive sign for the future growth. He has hoped that budget announcements would work as a growth engine for the economy of the State.
