State to unveil textile policy during Vibrant Gujarat

For long Gujarat did not have a textile policy of its own. Finally, the realisation has dawned in the power corridors of Gandhinagar in his regard.

The state government is in the process of formulating an integrated textile policy, which will be unveiled during the next Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit to be held in January 2009. The government has roped in consultants Ernst & Young (E&Y), industry representatives and bureaucrats to form a special taskforce for the policy.

Even as the taskforce is in the process of coming out with a draft policy, the government has already prioritised the salient features of the policy.

"Except for a few large industrial houses, the textile sector in the state is mostly run as small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Through the policy, the government would look forward to strengthening SMEs by providing capital subsidy on purchase of machinery and technology, specific integrated parks and infrastructure development," said Chandan Chatterjee, general manager (project & technology), Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb).

The policy would also try to cover the gaps in the value chain. "Identification of weakness in the value chain, right from spinning to garmenting, and filling up the gaps will be a high priority for the government. Moreover, unlike the larger companies, SMEs are incapable of high value-addition which will be supported by the government through the policy as well," said Chatterjee.

According to him, high value items should form at least 10 per cent of the textile production in the state, which has so far not seen a headstart. The policy will also intend to develop specific parks such as apparel parks, cotton-based weaving parks, exclusive technical textile parks, textile machinery parks and ancillary parks.

Spinning and wool carpeting would gain special attention, said Chatterjee. "Spinning is not quite developed and needs specific support in terms of better infrastructure and skill development, since it is a labour-intensive industry. Similarly, Bhuj-based carpet wool industry also lacks value addition and better technology. To revive the industry, the policy will look to encourage machine-based wool carpeting and adoption of better technologies," he said.

For skill development, the government is planning to set up training institutes, especially in the apparel sector. "Gujarat is the only state to have invited private companies to set up apparel training institutes (ATI). But more steps in skill development will be taken once the policy is announced," added Chatterjee.

The state, which contributes 30 per cent of the country's total textile production, had so far lagging behind other states in terms a policy push for the sector.