India announces scheme to counter Bangladesh, Vietnam in textile market

India has announced a plan to set up announced a scheme of Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) to counter Bangladesh and Vietnam in the global textile market.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the plan on Monday with an aim to get a globally competitive textile sector and attract large investments and boost employment generation, reports The Economic Times.

"The scheme of MITRA will create world-class infrastructure with plug and play facilities to create global champions in exports. seven textile parks will be established over 3 years,” the minister said.

The country announced the scheme after a tumultuous year for the textile and clothing industry in 2020 which saw a spate of job losses, cancelled orders and an acute crunch of financial resources due to the coronavirus outbreak.

India has been losing its competitive edge to Bangladesh and Vietnam owing to their low labour costs, the wider scale of operations and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) advantage enjoyed by them.

With the textile sector being the second largest employment generator in the country after agriculture, the Budget announcements mean a significant step forward for the industry of India.

"As a textile industry, we are losing our grip in India to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam. Such steps will incentivise the garment manufacturing and textile industry. If fructified within the said timeline of the next 3 years, it will herald a new beginning for the textile sector,” K R Sekar, Partner, Deloitte India states.

Lauding the move, Indian Textiles Minister Smriti Irani tweeted that the announcement on MITRA will be a game-changer for the Indian Textiles Industry.

“Along with the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, MITRA will lead to increased investments and enhanced employment opportunities. Emphasis on state-of-the-art infrastructure through MITRA will give our domestic manufacturers a level-playing field in the international textiles market and pave the way for India to become a global champion of textiles exports across all segments,” she said in her tweets.

Exports in the textiles and apparel industry are expected to reach $300 billion by 2024-25 resulting in a tripling of Indian market share from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, as per national investment promotion and facilitation agency Invest India. The industry size is expected to double to $300 bn by 2025-26, for which the 7 mega textile parks have been planned.

India's Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel says that the measures will promote production and export of manmade fibre (MMF) based garments.

“The Rs 106.83 billion PLI scheme for MMF garments and technical textiles, along with the new Mega Investment Textile Parks scheme for setting up seven textile parks in India over three years will bring in huge investment in the MMF sector,” he highlighted.