Textile key source of economic livelihood after agriculture: Giriraj

Kolkata, Nov 21 (PTI) Union Minister Giriraj Singh said the textiles sector is turning into another key source of income for the people after agriculture.

Speaking at a roadshow here in the run-up to the Bharat Tex 2025, the Global Textile Expo to be held in New Delhi in February, Singh said 4.6 crore people in the country are employed in the sector at present, which is substantially higher than the figure before 2014, the year the BJP-headed NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed the government at the Centre.

“Going by the roadmap, the number of people sustaining from the sector will reach the six crore mark in 2030,” Singh, the textiles minister, said on Wednesday night.

Underscoring that the Narendra Modi government has made innovation as the bottomline for the goal of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, he said, “Before 2014 there was no start-up whereas now 1.5 lakh people are associated with start-up ventures.”

Singh said a new concept of technical textile has added a new dimension and it has greatly benefited the medical sector churning out products like sanitary napkins and masks.

The minister said by 2030, 13 million tonnes of fibre will be used but there will not be any scarcity as both natural and man-made fibres will be in abundance due to the policy of the Modi government.

“India has so much diversity in textile,….jute, natural fibre, mulberry, tussar …. whatever silk is available in the global market is produced in India,” Singh said, pointing out the government is committed to strengthening this diversity.

He said the government will revive the jute sector, for which Rs 12,000 crore has been earmarked.

Describing Kolkata as the ‘mother of textiles’, Singh said that post-independence, the eastern metropolis and Mumbai had been textile leaders but the city lost its pre-eminence over the decades.

India’s textile industry has moved past China and is moving ahead, the minister said.

“People would say our garments faced competition from Bangladesh and Vietnam. China was above us in cotton but not any more. Through innovation and start-ups, we are racing ahead. While many countries’ economies suffered a setback after Covid, our economy continued to grow at a 7-8 per cent rate,” Singh said.

Union Minister of State for Textiles Pabitra Margherita said the upcoming Bharat Tex 2025 will build bridges of culture with the world.

He said Kolkata’s contribution to the sector remains immense, “as Bengal is the cradle of heritage handlooms from famed baluchari sarees to jamdani”.

He said there is a need to form a textile value chain.