Union Textiles Ministry announced establish 25 Apparel Parks for Exports (EPF) – on EPZ pattern – across the country covering various textiles industry centres with in coming two years.
They would be developed to promote the domestic industry to successfully compete and counter the emerging challenges in the global post-multi-fibre agreement regime. Shri R Poornalingam, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said this in Kolkata.
Addressing a meeting of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce (BNCC), Shri Poornalingam said, 13 such parks were already taking shape in different States while 10 more would come up within the next one-year. One would be created in Kolkata on specific project proposal submitted by the industry or a group of entrepreneurs and forwarded by the State Government to the Union Ministry.
Each one of these parks would get 40 per cent subsidy from the Centre for creation of necessary infrastructural facilities as grant-in-aid, he said, adding that every park would have employment opportunity for about 20 thousand persons.
The Ministry has forwarded the proposal-details on the EPFs to the Union Cabinet following approval by its internal committee. The Cabinet too has approval and a notification on them is likely very soon. The Vision Statement of the Ministry's specialists' committee has set a target of exports in the textiles sector worth US $ 80 billion by the year 2010/
There was nothing to fear from the norms of the multi-fibre agreement. On the contrary, the new options had potential to boost India's current 4% share (20% of country's total exports) in the global textiles export market up to ten times, Shri Poornalingam said.
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