By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: From receiving proposals under PM Mitra to investment under PLI Scheme, it was an eventful year for Ministry of Textiles. The Ministry provided financial assistance to handloom sector and organized several Handicraft exhibitions.
Some of the key initiatives and achievements of the Ministry in the year 2022 are:
PLI Scheme
Government has launched the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme with an approved outlay of Rs.10,683 crore to promote production of MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Products of Technical Textiles in the country to enable Textiles Industry to achieve size and scale and to become competitive. Applications under PLI Scheme for Textiles were received through web portal from 01.01.2022 to 28.02.2022. A total of 67 applications have been received. Selection Committee chaired by Secretary (Textiles) has selected 64 applicants under the scheme. 56 applicants have completed the mandatory criteria for formation of a new company and approval letters have been issued to them. Investment to the tune of Rs. 1536 crore approximately has been made so far. Quality Control Order wrt VSF is under issuance.
PM MITRA
The Government had approved setting up of 7 (seven) PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks to develop world class infrastructure including plug and play facility with an outlay of Rs. 4445 crore for a period up-to 2027-28. The guidelines in respect of scheme have been published and there have been multiple interactions with State Governments for inviting proposals. In response 18 proposals from 13 States have been received. National Conference was organized on 04.05.2022 for discussion on proposals with the Senior Officers from State Governments and Industry Associations. Evaluation of proposed PM MITRA park sites was done through Gati Shakti portal to understand locational advantage. As of now detailed scrutiny for selection of sites through challenge matrix is underway.
National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM)
Under NTTM, 74 research proposals valuing Rs.232 cr have been approved in the category of speciality fibre and technical textile. For market development and promotion of technical textiles, 4 major conferences have been organised viz. (i) International conference with CII in Delhi on 12/03/22, (ii) Conference on Geotech and Agrotech with ICC at Imphal on 23/08/2022, (iii) National conclave on protective textiles on 16/11/2022 at Delhi and (iv) International conference with CII and Govt. of TN on 25-26 November 2022 in Chennai. 31 new HSN codes have been developed in the technical textiles sector. SRTEPC have been assigned the role of export promotion council for technical textiles.
Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS)
Investment of Rs.10,218 crore confirmed by the industry in 2443 subsidy cases. A total of Rs. 621.41 crore subsidy was released in 3159 cases under Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme and Special campaigns organized at major clusters for settling backlog cases.
SAMARTH
A total of 73919 persons (SC: 18194, ST:8877 and Women: 64352) have been provided training of which 38823 persons were provided placement under SAMARTH – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
A new Campus at Daman was made operational for the academic session 2022-23. Moreover new Campus Buildings for Bhopal and Srinagar are also coming up.
Silk Sector
The total Raw Silk production was 28106 MT. R&D projects numbering 44 were initiated and 23 were concluded with the achievement of training 9777 persons in various activities related to silk sector.
Jute Sector
JUTE-ICARE (Improved Cultivation And Advanced Retting Exercise) Scheme: covers 170 jute growing blocks with 1,89,483 hectare had benefitted 4,20,309 jute farmers. Export Performance has improved due to Market Development & Promotion Scheme (MDPS) as export performance rose by 38% from the last year with current value at Rs. 3786 crore. The value of exported Jute Diversified Products is Rs. 1744 crore with increasing trend by 46% from the last year. A total quantity of around 26.87 lakh bales of jute bags worth Rs.9.80 thousand crores (approx.) have been indented.
Cotton Sector
Cotton cultivation has been increased by 5% to 125.02 lakh hectare as against 119.10 lakh hectare during last year. Brand named KASTURI COTTON INDIA for Indian cotton has been launched and to encourage mechanized harvesting of cotton, improving quality of cotton and to reduce labour cost. Further 75000 hand held kapas plucker machines are being distributed.
Wool Sector
Projects to Animal/Sheep Husbandry Dept., Leh have been approved of revolving fund of Rs.2 Cr for procurement of pashmina wool, distribution of 400 portable tents to Nomads of Leh in order to improve living conditions. Further construction of 300 Predator proof corrals for safety of pashmina goat along with project to procure 50 sheep shearing machines to Uttarakhand
Handloom Sector
Financial assistance of Rs.76.60 Crore has been provided to 91 Handloom Clusters. 1,109 weavers provided improved looms and accessories under HSS. Skill up-gradation training was imparted to 2,107 handloom workers under Handloom Clusters of National Handloom Development Programme. Assistance amounting to Rs.18.49 crore has been released for 141 marketing events. Moreover assistance of Rs.10.40 crore has also been released for various activities sanctioned to Mega Handloom Clusters under Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme. 102.05 lakh kg of yarn was supplied under transport subsidy component, 73.79 lakh kg of yarn supplied under-price subsidy component and total of 175.84 lakh kg of yarn supplied under Raw Material Supply Scheme (RMSS).
Handicrafts Sector
A total of 272 marketing events were organized, benefiting 19330 artisans. Pahchan cards were issued to 30 lakh artisan and uploaded on public domain. 52 artisan Producer Companies were formed and supported. 418 training programme and Design workshops were conducted benefiting 12480 artisans. Modern Toolkit were distributed to 13579 artisans. Shilp Guru & National Awards for the years 2017,2018 & 2019 were awarded to 108 artisans.
