The Tiruppur Exporters’ Association proposed changes to the Tamil Nadu Textile Policy 2019 that included the establishment of a knitwear research institute in Tiruppur and a cargo terminal with international connection at the Coimbatore airport.
K.M. Subramanian, the association President, urged the State Government to address issues like housing for labour, raising the overtime cap for the apparel sector, upskilling current employees, transportation subsidies to transport workers to factories, bank Basel norms, and NPA classification in a meeting with the state textiles commissioner.
In addition to the State government capital subsidy, he encouraged the government to establish a licencing system for utilising the ATUF programme subsidy.
In the Tirupur Cluster, there are 1,213 exporting units owned by the TEA. Six lakh people are employed directly by the Tirupur Knitwear Cluster, 60 per cent of whom are women, in addition to another two lakh people who are employed indirectly.
The value of exports of knitwear and wovens from Tamil Nadu stood at Rs 38,000 cr in 2021–2022 and is expected to reach Rs 50,000 cr in the next two to three years. 21 per cent of the state’s total exports of goods were ready-made clothing (knitwear and woven garments).
According to the association, a knitwear research institute in Tiruppur will aid in the swift expansion of the sector and exports, much how the Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai helps to product development and innovation for the industry.
“Considering the exports and movement of passengers from this region, we request the Tamil Nadu government to offer international carrier connections in Tiruppur,” it said.
Since the garment industry relies heavily on labour, a severe lack of skilled workers poses the single biggest challenge to its expansion, particularly in labor-intensive clusters like Tiruppur. One of the obstacles to labourers’ permanent transfer from their home villages to industrial clusters would be removed if housing and dormitories for workers were built in clusters like Tiruppur.
The Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation has received a project proposal for an estimated Rs 20.57 cr that would upskill 50,000 current employees in a year.
