Thursday, New Delhi, 10th March 2022: “The Indian Textile Industry which is the largest industrial employer of the country has the potential to become the second largest manufacturer of textile products in the world after China. It has the unique feature of having presence of the entire textile value chain right from the fibre to fashion and along with growing demand for technical textiles to not only fulfil the ever-growing demand of the domestic sector but also of the rest of the world”, said Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles and Railways, during her inaugural address at CITI’s Man-Made Fibre Conclave 2022 held on 9th March 2022.
The Minister said, “the theme of the Conclave USD 450 Billion Global MMF Textiles Trade: Growth Beacon for the Indian Textile Industry itself shows what the global market holds for the Indian Textile Industry especially for the MMF Sector” as the same is growing at a significant pace.
The Minister stated that “the textile industry is one of the priority sectors for the Government of India and appreciated CITI for organising MMF Conclave 2022 at such an opportune time”.
The Minister stressed that “India has to cover a long way to emerge as one of the leading manufacturers of MMF textile products, however, the growth path is not so easy, and India is facing stern competition from the established players of MMF like China, Taiwan, South Korea, etc. in terms of product quality, scale, lead times and prices.”
The Minister elaborated that “due to increasing labour and manufacturing costs in these countries, there is ample opportunity for India to attract global investments in the manufacturing of high value-added MMF product categories.”
The Minister also stated that “the Government is looking towards the inclusive and participative development of Indian textile sector and accordingly, the Government’s central focus has recently been on increasing the textile manufacturing many-folds by developing the best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure, up-gradation of technology fostering innovation, enhancing skills and utilising traditional strengths in the MMF textile sector.”
The Minister exhorted the industry captains to heavily invest in the MMF Sector and take advantage of recently announced schemes like PLI and PM MITRA for the holistic development of this particular sector. This will increase India’s share in the global trade and provide huge employment opportunities for the Indian youths.
The Secretary (Textiles), Shri Upendra Prasad Singh stated that the Government has realised that the growth in the textile sector can only be achieved through promoting right policies in the MMF Sector. The world is adopting China+1 policy for obvious reasons, and therefore, it is the right time for the Indian textile manufacturers to boost the trade of MMF products and increase its share in the global arena, while delivering the KeyNote Address at the CITI MMF Conclave 2022.
Shri U.P. Singh stated that “the Government is aware of the issues of the MMF Sector however, it will only adopt the right policy measures keeping in view the interests of the larger segment.”
The Secretary (Textiles) that the PLI and PM MITRA schemes are designed keeping in the mind the growth potential of the MMF Sector and apprised the industry that a number of states have come forward to establish PM MITRA parks for promoting growth of textile sector in their states and provide adequate employment opportunities.
Shri U.P. Singh concluded by saying, “the good days are ahead and appealed to the industry captains to work in tandem with the Government to emerge again as the second largest exporter of T&A products in the world within the next 2-3 years.”
Shri T. Rajkumar, Chairman, CITI appreciated the Government for successfully signing India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). He said that the textile industry is very excited about this trade pact and is also optimistic about the ongoing trade agreements with the leading Textile & Apparel markets such as Australia, UK, EU, Canada, etc, while delivering the Welcome Address in the Inaugural Session.
Shri T. Rajkumar while pointing out the issues, such as, inverted duty structure, lack of technical know-how, huge dependence on imported machineries, etc. stated that “these issues are acting as bottlenecks in the overall growth of the Indian MMF Sector. He urged to the Hon’ble Minister to bring the entire MMF value chain under 5% GST ambit to address the issue of inverted duty structure and also requested to announce schemes for the production and development of MMF raw-materials similar to that of natural fibres like cotton, wool, silk, jute, etc.”
Shri Prashant Aggarwal, Jt. Managing Director, Wazir Advisors while delivering the theme presentation stated that the Government is consistently working on providing conducive environment by developing quality infrastructure, concluding FTAs with major economies of the world to attract big investments in the textile sector. It is now for the industry captains to work on investment partnerships and capacity building through training in India and outside in order to capitalize the emerging trends in the MMF based Textile Industry. Wazir Advisors was the Knowledge Partner of CITI’s MMF Conclave 2022.
The eminent speakers, industry captains, moderators and subject-experts from the entire textile value chain brainstormed the Sessions on “Global Market Situation and Emerging Trends in the MMF Based Textile Industry” and “Growth Opportunities for Indian Companies in the MMF Sector”.
