'Coir industry registered steep growth in last 3 yrs despite

The coir industry in the country has registered a steep growth in the last three years in spite of global economic recession, the Union Government has said.
It said steps would be taken to make the coir sector a Rs 25,000 crore industry in next seven years.
Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh said here that export of coir and coir products from the country has registered a steady increase in spite of the general economic recession.
"The all time high record of Rs 2,282 crore was set in 2016-17. It records an increase by 55 per cent over exports in 2013-14," he said yesterday evening after reviewing various schemes and programmes of Central Government implemented by Coir Board.

He said exports of coir and coir products from the country set an all time high record of Rs 2,282 crore by value and 9,57,044 Metric tonnes in terms of quantity in 2016-17.
"This represents an increase by 27 per cent and 20 per cent over the value and quantity respectively achieved during 2015-16," he said, flanked by Coir Board Chairman C P Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan said that in 2016-17 the country achieved Rs 2,282 crore, a record export growth whereas in 2013-14, it was only Rs 1,476 crore by value and 5,37,040 metric tonnes in terms of quantity.
"In these three years, every year there has been growth. In spite of the global economic recession, coir exports have gone up every year. We are continuously growing both in terms of quantity as well as the value," he said.

He said coir, a traditional industry, had been left in isolation for several years and a lot of new technology was required to increase productivity and become more competitive in the international market.
"By taking all these things into consideration, we are going to introduce modernisation of the coir sector," he said, adding that government would introduce various innovative schemes to improve production by providing subsidy to the manufacturers.
"We want to increase the export economy of the coir industry in another 7-8 years. We want to make it an economy of Rs 25,000 crore in 7-8 years. In this mission, we are going to find a suitable, most scientific, most modern and high-tech spinning system," Radhakrishnan said.

He said renovation of 20 showrooms was proposed to be completed this year and added that as part of expanding the marketing network in the country, new showrooms would be set up in Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Gorakhpur and Tirupur.
For development of the coir industry the board had opened sub regional offices in Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Port Blair and Kavarati, he said.
Singh said the Indian coir sector has tremendous potential to grow and provide employment to a large number of people.
"Modernisation of industry, achievement of higher raw material utilisation and productivity would be accorded top priority in the development agenda of the Central government for this sector," he said.

Highlighting the paramount need for modernisation of the coir industry, he said that responding to repeated demands from the industry,the Coir Board was going ahead with a project to fabricate a versatile spinning machine capable of producing yarn with uniform thickness in large quantities.
To promote larger investments by entrepreneurs, government was considering introducing a scheme with financial support upto Rs 2.50 crore, Singh added.