India second in cotton, silk production

India is the second largest producer of cotton, cotton yarn, cotton fabric and silk after China and far ahead of Bangladesh and Vietnam, parliament was told on Thursday.

However, India leads the world in jute production accounting for 52.3 percent of the total production followed by Bangladesh with 42.5 percent, Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He said India's readymade garment exports amounted to 42.85 percent of the total exports vis-a-vis 94.2 percent for Bangladesh, 80.63 percent for Vietnam and 60.31 percent for China according to UN COMTRADE, a repository of official trade statistics and analytical tables.

He asserted India's textile industry is not plagued with any financial crisis due to non-availability of funds.

To a question on the development of textile industry infrastructure, he said that the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) was launched in 2005 to provide the textile industry with state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities for setting up their textile units.

"New parks of international standards are set up under the scheme at potential growth centres to facilitate textile units to meet international environmental and social standards," he said, adding the government has approved as many as 72 textile parks thus far which are in various stages of implementation.

Once operational, the textile parks will attract investments to the tune of Rs.30,000 crore and generate employment to nearly 4.5 lakh people, Gangwar added.

He clarified that there is no shortage of raw material and good quality cotton in specific to meet the rising demand of the Indian textile industry.