The Mega Investment Textiles Park (MITRA) Scheme for the textile industry is in the advanced stages of approval according to the textiles secretary, UP Singh. He informed PTI that the scheme would receive cabinet approval within the next 15 days.

“The modified draft Cabinet note for setting up the seven MITRA parks has been sent to Cabinet for seeking its approval and we expect it to be cleared in the next few weeks." Singh informed The Hindu Business Line

The MITRA Scheme was announced in the budget speech of 2021-22 by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. Through the scheme, seven mega textile parks are proposed to be set up in the next three years which would have world class infrastructure with plug and play facilities to encourage exports.

Each park will come up in at least 1,000 acre land with ready nearby availability of raw material, fully-equipped infrastructure including port, road and rail connectivity, water and power availability etc.

The mega textile parks are expected to emerge as manufacturing hubs, create employment, create global champions and enable access to state of the art textile technology.

The location for the seven mega textile parks would be selected using the “Challenge Method”

What is the Challenge Method?

To select the location of the new mega textile parks, the centre does not want to pre-judge any location or state for its suitability. It would instead rely on “Challenge Method” informed Singh, to Business Line.

Under the Challenge Method, the centre would float an expression of interest (EOI) for which the states should apply. For the application, the states would have to submit certain documents according to the prescribed format which the centre would evaluate as per the criteria. A portal would be developed to enable this procedure.

The criteria would include availability of facilities such as land, labour, raw materials, infrastructure amenities, road and railway connectivity, labour laws and industrial policies. The only prerequisite to apply for the scheme would be availability of 1000 acre land.

The proposals of different states would be pitted against each other and would be given points. Proposals that receive the highest points would be selected for this scheme.

As per the Business Line report, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have expressed interest in setting up MITRA parks. Some states are interested in setting up more than one park.

Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal had recently stated “We need competition among states to capture business opportunities and we will see that competition in the MITRA scheme”.

Other Measures

Earlier this month, Goyal had said that the textiles industry must aim to increase exports from $33 billion to $100 billion in the coming years. He also informed that he had been interacting with different nations to expedite Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) including the UK, USA and Australia to build a loyal customer base.

The cabinet has also recently approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Man Made Fibre (MMF) and Technical Textiles worth Rs 10,683 crores. The scheme aims to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the textile sector, especially in the MMF segment and technical textiles under greenfield and brownfield investments. PLI scheme covers approximately 40 product categories under MMF and about 10 in the technical textile segment.

Also Read: Explained: The Rs 10,683 Crore PLI Scheme For Textile Sector In India

Mega Investment Textiles Park (MITRA) Scheme

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