The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved PM MITRA (Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel) parks scheme for the textile sector to set up seven integrated textile parks in the country, as announced in Union Budget for 2021-22. The scheme will have a total outlay of Rs 4,445 crore over a period of five years. Under the scheme, MITRA parks will be developed by a special purpose vehicle, owned by state government and Centre, in public-private partnership mode. The parks will be set up at greenfield and brownfield sites in willing states. "Proposals of state governments having ready availability of contiguous and encumbrance-free land parcel of 1,000+ acres along with other textiles related facilities and ecosystem are welcome," the government said in a release.
Also Read: CoinSwitch Kuber is India's second crypto unicorn after $260 mn funding The Centre is in talks with the states for the scheme and 10 states have already shown interest, Union Textile Minister Piyush Goyal said while apprising the media about the Cabinet decisions. Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana are among the states which have evinced interest in the scheme. The Centre will provide support of up to Rs 500 crore each to greenfield parks and up to Rs 200 crore each for brownfield parks under the scheme for development of common infrastructure. Besides, Rs 300 crore will also be provided as Competitiveness Incentive Support (CIS) to each PM MITRA park for early establishment of textile manufacturing units. The textile parks will have an incubation centre and plug & play facility, developed factory sites, roads, power, water and wastewater system, common processing house and other related facilities, like design centre, testing centres. They will also have support infrastructure like workers' hostels & housing, logistics park, warehousing, medical facilities and training and skill development facilities. The parks will have 50 per cent area for pure manufacturing activity, 20 per cent for utilities, and 10 per cent for commercial development.
Also Read: Shadowfax builds India's first delivery super app for blue-collar executives The parks will offer an opportunity to create an integrated textile value chain, right from spinning, weaving, processing/ dyeing and printing to garment manufacturing, at one location. World-class industrial infrastructure would attract cutting age technology and boost FDI and local investment in the sector, the release said. Besides, integrated textile value chain at one location will reduce logistics cost of the industry. The parks will also be eligible for other Central and state government schemes as per their eligibility under the guidelines of those schemes. "This will enhance the competitiveness of the textiles industry by helping it in achieving economies of scale and will create huge job opportunities for millions of people. Leveraging economies of scale, the scheme will help Indian companies to emerge as global champions," the government said. The PM MITRA scheme is expected to create direct employment for 7 lakh people and indirect employment for 14 lakh people, Goyal said.
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