Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu recently called for upskilling textile and apparel workers and adopting the latest technologies to gain competitiveness in exports. Launching the virtual platform of apparel products of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), he said India is lagging in fabric exports due to small size of average firms and outdated technology.
“Unless the average size of the apparels firm grows, adopts latest technologies and possesses skilled manpower, we cannot manufacture quality items and export at competitive prices. Only this way, we can exploit the full employment and economic potential of the industry”, he was quoted as saying.
Appreciating the Amended Technology Up-gradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) as an excellent scheme that can give a boost to small scale firms, he said concerted efforts must be made to deliver the benefits of the scheme to the firms in second and third-tier towns and rural areas. He also called upon textile entrepreneurs to diversify their manufacturing portfolio to suit the changing global demands and tap newer markets.
