2020 was a year full of action for Ministry of Textiles (MoT) and some of the main developments of MoT during the year will have a long-term impact on Indian textile and apparel industry.
1. PPE: A new industry developed!
With the development of a new industry valuing at Rs. 7,000 crore and 1,100 PPE manufacturers producing a peak of 4.5 lakh units per day, India becomes the second largest PPE manufacturer in the world.
When COVID-19 was at its peak, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare approached MoT for help in providing PPE kits to health professionals in Government hospitals. MoT took initiatives and went step-by-step in developing a new industry. Some of the measures taken in the span of just 2-3 months included: development of technical specifications and issuing guidelines to ensure adequate quality; development of 11 testing laboratories (meeting standards of MoHFW) and establishment of Central Control Room for facilitation, coordination and monitoring of overall activities round the clock during entire lockdown period.
Besides, it also appointed 200 Nodal Officers on pan-India basis to facilitate all stakeholders (manufacturers/suppliers/transporters/testing labs, etc.) – from sourcing of raw materials to the end product reaching its final destination.
2. Technical textiles and MMF got a boost
At the beginning of the year, the National Technical Textiles Mission approved a total outlay of Rs. 1,480 crore. And just few days back, it also approved PLI Scheme to 10 key sectors for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and export competitiveness under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. The MoT Scheme in the name of Focus Product Incentive Scheme (FPIS) has been approved. The scheme will focus on promotion of 40 MMF apparel and 10 technical textiles lines to create 60-70 global champions. The financial outlay of Rs. 10,683 crore over a period of 5 years has also been approved.
3. Anti-dumping duty on PTA and acrylic fibre removed
ADD on purified terephthalic acid or PTA was removed on 2 February 2020, enabling MMF manufacturers to procure raw materials at globally competitive prices and in turn provide man-made fibre/filament to downstream industry at competitive prices.
During the year, the Government removed anti-dumping duty on ‘Acrylic Fibre’, a raw material for yarn and knitwear industry originating in or exported from Thailand, and imported into India. It is expected that acrylic fibre will be made available at internationally competitive prices, which will resultantly bring down the price of acrylic yarn.
4. Cotton brand launched
Brand name and logo for Indian cotton launched as “KASTURI COTTON INDIA”. It is also pertinent to mention here that during the calendar year 2020, CCI made a record procurement of around 151 lakh bales under MSP operations, which is around 290 per cent higher as against procurement of 38.43 lakh bales during corresponding period last year.
5. Weaver, handcrafted toys sector also supported well
MoT initiated on-boarded Government e Market place (GeM) to provide wider market for handloom weavers/artisans/producers.
Apart from this, a National Action Plan for Indian Toy Story has been made with the collaboration of 14 Ministries/Dept. of Govt. of India. The need-based interventions have been sanctioned for overall development of toy industry in 13 identified handicrafts toy clusters and a National Toy Fair is proposed from 27 February to 3 March 2021.
A new scheme, namely, Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (MITRA) park in 1,000+ acres of land with modern state-of-the-art infrastructure, common utilities, R&D lab, workers’ family accommodation, etc. and plug-and-play facilities is under consideration.
In another important decision, MoT decided to withdraw the name of Government nominees from all Textiles Export Promotion Council.
