NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, AUG 6
The government is set to launch the Focused Product Investment Scheme (FPIS) to attract funding in the manmade fibre segment, in an effort to boost India’s share in the global textiles market, a top official said on Thursday.
Speaking at the Invest India Exclusive Investment Forum (Japan Edition) through video conferencing, Textile Secretary Ravi Capoor said the proposed scheme aims to promote both greenfield as well as brownfield investments in the manmade fibre segment.
Under greenfield investment, a company builds its new facilities, whereas brownfield funding takes place when a firm purchases or leases an existing facility.
The Centre is in the advanced stage of finalising setting up of integrated mega textiles parks, which are proposed to be established near ports in the country, Capoor said.
Efforts are also underway to position India as one of the major producers of technical textile as the country’s share is poor in the World’s USD 250-billion market involving the segment, the textile secretary said.
Technical textiles include textiles made for automotive applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles, and protective clothing, among others.
Capoor also said the Textile Ministry wants to set up at least two textiles machinery manufacturing parks in the country and is looking forward to a major investment from Japan in the segment.
The manmade fibre segment comprises 70 per cent of the global textiles trade. The size of India”s textiles industry is close to USD 150 billion, of which USD 40 billion is exported. The textiles sector is the largest employer in the country after agriculture, with a direct and indirect manpower of nearly 10 crore.
“We are coming up with a special scheme, which is called the Focused Product Investment Scheme, especially designed for greenfield and brownfield investment in the manmade section. So, top-40 lines, which are traded in the world in manmade fibre, we are going to incentivise in a very big way,” the Textiles Secretary said.
He added that the manmade fibre sector is expected to attract large investments once the scheme is rolled out.
Capoor said a Tirupur-Tokyo partnership programme has been proposed wherein certain clusters could be dedicated for supply to Japan.
He said the government is in the process of setting up a joint desk to address quality concerns, as much of the exports from India to Japan are hampered because of certain quality issues.
Heavy Industries Secretary Arun Goel, who was also present at the programme, said there is an immense scope for the growth of the capital goods sector in India, as the target is to take the industry to USD 112 billion by 2025.
He highlighted the opportunities for setting up joint ventures and research and development hubs in the capital goods segment, as India is poised to become a global design base.
