Indian textiles minister Smriti Irani yesterday urged the textile industry to reorient itself and not depend on financial packages from the government, whose finances are strained due to the pandemic. She was interacting with members of the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry through a webinar. “It is time for the industry to introspect,” she said.
She said “The textile industry had been looking for packages or supports but now it is time for a new solution and new thinking. The industry has the capability to reorient. If they reorient themselves, they would not require to depend,”
She cited the example of making personal protection equipment (PPE) for doctors and other healthcare personnel in the last one-and-a-half months.
Textile company JCT group in Punjab had sought support to ferry the PPE samples to a laboratory in Aurangabad for testing during the lockdown and the government had helped the firm for this. More such interventions were made, she said.
Irani said the textiles ministry is in discussion with the West Bengal government to work out a plan to help the jute industry. Farmers need 4,500 million tonnes of certified jute seeds to improve the quality of the golden fibre, and only a part of this is available now, she added.
