Steps towards boosting the textile industry

Government is implementing various policy initiatives and schemes for supporting the development of textile sector. These schemes and initiatives which promote technology upgradation, creation of infrastructure, skill development and sectoral development in the textile sector, create a conducive environment and provide enabling conditions for textile manufacturing in the country and help in boosting the textile sector. The Government, through its various schemes, such as the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (A-TUFS), Schemes for the development of the Powerloom Sector(Power-Tex), Schemes for Technical Textiles, Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP), Scheme for Additional Grant for Apparel Manufacturing Units under SITP (SAGAM), SAMARTH- The Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS), Jute (ICARE- Improved Cultivation and Advanced Retting Exercise), Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS), Silk Samagra, National Handloom Development Programme, National Handicraft Development Programme, Integrated Wool Development Programme (IWDP), North East Region Textiles Promotion Scheme (NERTPS), Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (ROSCTL), Scheme for Production and Employment Linked Support for Garmenting Units (SPELSGU) etc provides environment to boost the sector. The Government had also approved a special package for textile sector with an outlay of Rs. 6000 crores to boost employment generation and exports particularly in Garmenting and Made-ups.

The following activities have been undertaken in the handloom and handicrafts sector:

Handloom Sector: Ministry of Textiles has also been implementing Handloom Marketing Assistance (HMA), a component of National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP) all across India including State of Uttar Pradesh. HMA provides marketing platform to the handloom weavers/agencies to sell their products directly to the consumers. The objective of HMA is to develop and promote the marketing channel through organizing expos/events in domestic as well as export market and bring the linkage in a holistic and integrated manner.

Details of marketing events sanctioned in State of Uttar Pradesh under HMA, NHDP during last 2 years and current financial year are as under:-

Further, the following activities have been undertaken in handloom sector in the State of Uttar Pradesh in the last 3 years and the current year (2017-18 to 2020-21 as on 31-12-2020): -

As per 4^th All India Handloom Census 2019-20, Uttar Pradesh has 1,90,957 handloom workers.

• 13 Block Level Clusters have been sanctioned for the State and a sum of Rs. 6.02 crore has been released involving 3,186 beneficiaries.
• 38 marketing events have been sanctioned and sum of Rs. 3.81 crore has been released involving 67,500 beneficiaries.
• 10,781 weavers/artisans/entities have been on-boarded on GeM for marketing of handloom products of weavers to the Government Departments.
• During August-October 2020, 29 number of Chaupals were organized in the State to educate the weavers to avail benefits of various handloom schemes meant for their welfare and socio-economic development.
• 2,243 beneficiaries have been provided loan worth Rs. 13.50 crore under Weavers’ MUDRA Scheme.
• 228 weavers have been enrolled under converged Mahatma Gandhi BunkarBimaYojana (MGBBY) and 11,536 weavers have been enrolled under PradhanMantriJeevanJyotiBimaYojana (PMJJBY)/PradhanMantriSurakhaBimaYojana (PMSBY).
• 262.90 lakh kg of yarn worth Rs. 746.18 crore has been supplied at mill gate price and 257.93 lakh kg of yarn worth Rs. 797.22 crore has been supplied to the weavers under 10% subsidy scheme under Yarn Supply Scheme (YSS). To provide raw material such as yarn and dyes & chemicals at subsidized rate/mill gate price, 100 yarn depots and 4 warehouses are functioning in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
• 2,615 weavers have been provided improved looms and accessories under HSS, Skill up-gradation training has been imparted to 3,060 beneficiary weavers, workshed is provided to 138 beneficiaries and lighting unit is imparted to 81 beneficiaries.
• A Design Resource Centre has set up in Weavers’ Service Centre, Varanasi in coordination with NIFT with the objective to build and create design-oriented excellence in the Handloom Sector and to facilitate weavers, exporters, manufacturers and designers for creating and having access to exquisite traditional and new designs.

Other activities undertaken irrespective of time frame of last 3 years are: -

• One Mega Handloom Cluster is functional at Varanasi since 2008-09. Project cost of the Mega Cluster is Rs. 60.10 crore, consisting GoI Share of Rs. 52.60 crore. A sum of Rs. 49.99 crore has been released for this project. Apart from 10 Block Level Clusters functional in the jurisdiction of the Mega Cluster, one Garmenting Unit and one Processing Unit has also been set up.

• To prevent imitation of handloom products of specific geographical origin, the following handloom product from Uttar Pradesh have been registered under GI Act, 1999
   

1. Agra Durrie
2. Banaras Brocade and Saree
3. Mirzapur Handmade Dari

• Six Urban Haats are functional at Varanasi, Agra, Bareilly, Rampur, Ayodhya and Jhansi and a sum of Rs. 2.93 crore has been released.

Handicrafts Sector: For overall development of artisans in last two years, the following activities were undertaken:

1. 11 clusters have been adopted under Cluster Development Mentorship Programme benefitting 5500 artisans directly.
2. 04 mega clusters at Mirzapur-Bhadohi, Moradabad, Lucknow& Bareilly and 01 IDPH project for Varanasi have been sanctioned and all activities under implementation.
3. Under the Design & Technology Up gradation Programme 166 Integrated Design Development programme, 172 Design Development workshop and 159 Toolkits Programme sanctioned and implemented.
4. Approximately 9.30 Lakh artisans have been enrolled under PAHACHAN initiative.
5. Under Human Resources training Programme 51 Handicrafts Technical Training Programme and 13 Soft skill training Programme have conducted.
6. Under Marketing support scheme 28 marketing events have been conducted.
7. 02 Craft Villages at Tajganj, Agra and Prayagraj have sanctioned and work are in progress.

Further, the government has also initiated important steps for boosting textile sector globally. These are;

• Creation of National Technical Textiles Mission with total outlay of Rs 1480 crore. Technical textiles are textiles which are used for their functional properties, rather than for aesthetics or comfort. There are a large varities of technical textiles some of which are used in important applications such as agriculture, health and hygiene, medical applications, soil and water conservation, roads and highway, railways, airports, sea-ports, defence, protection of personnel in military, para-military, petrochemical/chemical industries, safety of fireman etc. The aim of the Mission is to position India as a major producer, consumer and exporter of technical textile products in the world map, therefore boosting its economy and technological capability.

• Abolition of anti-dumping duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), which is a critical input for man-made textile fibre and yarns. Its easy availability and competitive pricing is desirable to unlock the immense potential in textile sector which is a significant employment generator.

• M/o Textiles is formulating Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for creating global champion in MMF apparel and Technical Textiles for capturing substantial share in global trade in these segments.

• For export of handloom products globally, Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) is already participating in various international fairs/events with handloom exporters/weavers to sell their handloom products in the international markets under NHDP.

1. Details of participation in International marketing events by HEPC under NHDP and Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme of Ministry of Commerce is as under:-

(ii) Details of Handloom Export for the last 3 years.

The above initiatives/ schemes are also aimed at setting up of new units as well as expansion of the existing units which have potential for generating large employment opportunities.