Cabinet okays Rs 4,445 crore to set up seven mega textile parks

New Delhi: In a major decision aimed at giving a push to textile industry in the country, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of seven mega integrated textile region and apparel parks with a total outlay of Rs 4,445 crore for five years to position India strongly on the global textiles map.

The Cabinet has approved the proposal during the meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks were announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22 and the parks would be set up at greenfield/brownfield sites located in different willing states.

Giving details about the decision taken at the Cabinet meeting, Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal said that 10 states have already shown interest in setting up the parks. The states that have shown their interest are Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana.

Goyal, who was accompanied by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, further said that the parks will create direct employment for 7 lakh people and indirect employment for 14 lakh.

The parks will offer an opportunity to create an integrated textiles value chain right from spinning, weaving, processing/dyeing and printing to garment manufacturing at one location. An integrated textile value chain at one location will also reduce the logistics cost of the industry.

Maximum Development Capital Support (DCS) of Rs 500 crore to all greenfield parks and a maximum of Rs 200 crore to brownfield ones will be provided for the development of common infrastructure (30 per cent of the project cost). Also, Rs 300 crore of Competitiveness Incentive Support (CIS) will be provided to each park for the early establishment of textiles manufacturing

units.

Under PM MITRA, 50 per cent area will be developed for pure manufacturing activity, 20 per cent area for utilities, and 10 per cent of the area for commercial development.

As per an official release, the parks will be developed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will be owned by the state government and the central government in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

"The Master Developer will not only develop the Industrial Park but also maintain it during the concession period. Selection of this master developer will happen based on objective criteria developed jointly by state and central governments," it said.

The state governments will have majority ownership in the SPV. The Centre will also provide a fund of Rs 300 crore for each park to incentivise manufacturing units to get established.