The Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani Ji inaugurated the 2nd edition of Global Textiles Conclave 2021 (CITI GTC2021) organised by Confederation of Indian Textile Industry on Wednesday, 24th February 2021 through a Virtual Platform. CITI GTC2021 hosts nine important business sessions and quality renowned international speakers, experts, industry players and policy makers from the globe to deliberate on India’s role as an emerging sourcing partner for the global textiles and apparel trade in the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic
The Hon’ble Minister praised Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) and International Apparel Federation (IAF) – Co-Partners and Gherzi Textil Organisation – Knowledge Partner for conceptualising such a meaningful Conclave wherein the detailed deliberations was held to explore the possibilities to tap emerging opportunities which have been thrown up in front of the industry players.
Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani thanked the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji on behalf of the entire textile industry for extending Rs. 6000 crores package dedicated only to the garment and made-ups sector which gave much needed impetus for the growth in the vital segments of the textile sector. The recent announcement of Rs. 10,683 crores under Product Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme specially to bring to fore the robustness of MMF Industry and to complement the growth of Technical Textiles in India was a cause for celebrations amongst many.
The Hon’ble Minister also added it was only due to the visionary leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister that Government announced first-ever National Technical Textiles Mission with an outlay of Rs 1,480 crore with a target to enhance research innovation and development, enhance promotion & market development, enhance education, training and skilling and enhance export of technical textiles goods by increasing manufacturing capacities.
The Hon’ble Minister also pointed out that India is going to be one of the major consumers of technical textiles especially in the segments of Buildtech, Meditech and Oekotech in the coming years and can facilitate growth in this particular sector. The recent budget announcements for the infrastructure development in Railways and Roads, Aatmanirbhar Swastha Bharata and Jal Jeevan Mission will complement India’s consumption of technical textiles in the coming years. There is ample scope and end number of opportunities for the industry players for growth in technical textiles and leverage & generate employment opportunity for the youths.
The Hon’ble Minister further pointed out that the success story of PPE suits of the Indian Technical Textiles Sector is a testimony of our capabilities and our talent to the world where India from the net importer of PPE suits turned itself to the second largest producer of PPE suits in just two months. Today, there is a thriving 1-billion-dollar industry wherein 1100 companies are catering to the global demand of health care sector. The Hon’ble Textile Minister urged that the textile industry should leverage on this strong foundation laid by our industry during the Covid-19 pandemic, in the years to come.
The Hon’ble Textile Minister urged to the global investors to take full advantage of recent development wherein the Government has planned to set up Seven Textile Parks in the next three years under the Mega Investment Textiles Parks Scheme (MITRA). This has opened up new avenues for the global investment companies to invest in India and take benefit of the emerging opportunities that India is offering to the global investors. This will also help Indian textile industry to become globally competitive and generate new employment opportunities for the rural masses, especially to the poor and illiterate women.
The Hon’ble Minister urged for CITI’s support to educate MSME textile players to focus more on adopting global standards so that they can partner with the global sourcing giants in fulfilling their requirements.
The Hon’ble Minister stressed on the need of Sustainable Textiles which is also the only success mantra for the future growth of the textile sector if they have to compete with the low-cost countries.
In her concluding remarks, the Hon’ble Textile Minister complimented and congratulated CITI for organizing such a grand conclave and once again appealed to the global investors that India is a future investment destination with immense growth opportunity and invest not only in the recently announced seven mega textile parks but in the present operational parks also and capitalize on the inherent advantages of textile industry of India.