Textile Industry Welcomes Announcement on Textile Parks in Budget 2021

Coimbatore: The textile industry on Feb 01, 2021, Monday welcomed the Union Budget introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman, especially the announcement on fabric and clothing parks. In an announcement here, the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) appreciated the thrust given to the textile sector by proposing the seven mega integrated textile region and clothing parks (MITRA).

With the idea of the parks with a plug-and-play model, the fabric and clothing sector, especially the SMEs (small and medium enterprises), can construct competitiveness in manufacturing, ITF convenor Prabhu Dhamodharan stated in the statement. Further, the parks can be aligned with environmental, social, and governance dreams to attract global consumers as well as investors, he said. Also lauded was the mention of a three-year duration to capitalize on the opportunities arising from China and Tamil Nadu with a robust manufacturing ecosystem, he said. Welcoming the budget, the president of Tirupur Exporters Association Raja M Shanmugham termed it as a pragmatic one introduced to tackle all troubles in the sectors. While appreciating the parks scheme, he stated as expected, this would create international champions in export textile and be hopeful that Tirupur exporters would decide to set up the units in the parks. He thanked the authorities for allotting Rs 700 crore for the Amended Technology Upgradation Scheme (ATUFs) towards Rs 545 crore in the final budget which, he said, would help clear the pending capital subsidy.

Also, he appreciated the allocation of Rs 30 crore for export textile promotion studies against Rs 5 crore in the remaining Budget, a requirement of the textile industry to recognize the export potential of particular products in the unexplored markets. Raja Shanmugham expressed happiness over the allocation of Rs 100 crore for the integrated scheme for talent development. On rationalization of responsibilities on raw material for man-made textiles, both Dhamodharan and Raja Shanmugham welcomed the reduction of the primary customs duty on nylon chips, nylon fiber, and yarn. Shanmugam was thankful for permitting a new tax exemption for the notified low-priced rental housing projects, which was requested by the association in the pre-Budget memorandum to help migrant workers.