New Delhi, Thursday, 12 November 2020: Confederation of Indian Textile Industry’s Chairman Shri T. Rajkumar hailed the decision of the Central Government to launch Focused Product Investment Scheme (PLI) to attract investment and growth in the manmade fibre (MMF) and Technical Textile segment and boost India’s share in the global textiles market in both the segments.

Shri Rajkumar thanked the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji and the Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani Ji for launching the scheme and said it will give the much needed impetus to his initiatives of “Make of India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

CITI Chairman said, “PLI scheme is extended for 10 key specific sectors, of which Textile is one of the sectors and has been allocated Rs 10,683 crore of the total estimated outlay of Rs. 1.46 lakh crore, mainly for MMF and technical textile segment”. He further said, “the objective of the scheme is to promote building of new facilities and attract investment in the MMF sector under Greenfield and Brownfield investments”.

Shri Rajkumar pointed out that the Cotton based textile products have always been the main-stay of the Indian textile industry, whereas, India has been lagging behind in MMF textile products from the very beginning mainly due to expensive raw material and high tariff barriers, apart from cheaper imports from neighbouring countries. Shri Rajkumar cited that about 40 HS lines in MMF Garments and 10 HS lines in Technical Textiles account for nearly US$ 180 billion global trade in which India has a very limited share.

CITI Chairman observed that with the proposed scheme, the textile industry will get major boost to make investment in these sectors which will not only help India in increasing its global share but will also generate huge investment opportunities in textile sector which is already employing about 10 crore people. He cited that this scheme is likely to create 50-60 world class global champion company in these segments.

Shri Rajkumar said, “Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the Indian economy in an unprecedented way. Indian Textile sector is one the worst hit sectors due to weak domestic and international demands. Though, this sector has managed to convert the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity, yet many textile companies are still struggling to find their way back to normalcy”.

CITI Chairman said, “the Focused PLI Scheme has come at an appropriate time when India’s GDP is on a recovering mode and a V shaped recovery is expected in many of the sectors to bring the economy back on recovery track”.