Despite being deeply affected by the pandemic-induced lockdown, India’s textile industry showed a remarkable recovery, with a growth of 3.6 per cent during April-October 2020, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles is expected to attract investments worth over ₹19,000 crore in five years and lead to a cumulative turnover of over ₹3 lakh crore, it said.

In the last decade, close to ₹203,000 crore have been invested in the textile industry with direct and indirect employment of about 105 million, mostly women.

The central theme of Economic Survey, tabled in parliament today by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is ‘Agile approach’, implemented through India’s economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite being hit by the lockdown, India’s textile industry recovered remarkably, with a growth of 3.6 per cent during April-October 2020, said the latest Economic Survey.The production-linked incentive scheme for textiles is likely to attract investments worth over ₹19,000 crore in five years and lead to a cumulative turnover of over ₹3 lakh crore, it said.

The PLI scheme for the man-made fibre (MMF) segment and technical textiles, notified in September last year for enhancing manufacturing capabilities and exports, will focus on promotion of 40 MMF apparel and 10 technical textiles lines and create global champions, it said.

The government notified the setting up of 7 PM Mega Integrated Textiles Region and Apparel Park (MITRA) in October 2021 with a total outlay of ₹4,445 crore. The scheme is expected to further the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat and to position India strongly on the global textiles map.

PM MITRA will be developed by a special purpose vehicle owned by the state governments and the central government in a public-private partnership mode.

The Inland Vessels Act, 2021, replaced the over 100-year-old Inland Vessels Act, 1917, with the aim to promote economical, safe transportation and trade through inland waters. It will ensure transparency and accountability in the administration of inland water transportation and promote the ease of doing business, the Economic Survey said.

Augmentation in navigation capacity of National Waterway-1 is being implemented since 2018 through the Jal Marg Vikas Project from Varanasi to Haldia stretch of Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System to enable large barge movements.

Construction of multi-modal terminals at Varanasi and Sahib Ganj have been completed and that of the multimodal terminal at Haldia and the navigational lock at Farakka have achieved substantial progress, it noted.

There has been a continued increase in traffic and augmentation of capacity of major ports. In the backdrop of COVID-19, the traffic at major ports did suffer, declining by 4.57 per cent between 2019-20 and 2020-21, but the capacity of major ports has been rising, though at a slower pace in recent years, the Survey added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)