NEW DELHI: Textile manufacturers should start securing Cotton to meet their demands. Besides, all those involved with Cotton industry should meet to discuss the strategy to ensure traceability of cotton and better value of the cotton products, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Commerce & Industry during a video conference on Wednesday with members of Export Promotion Councils.

The virtual meeting was convened with senior representatives of all the 11 Export Promotion Councils under the Ministry of Textiles including Apparel Export Promotion Council (Chairman Narendra Goenka), The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Chairman Sunil Patwari), Carpet Export Promotion Council (Chairman Umar Hameed), Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (Executive Director R.K Verma), to name some. In addition, representatives of industry associations viz. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, Tiruppur Exporters Association and The Southern India Mills’ Association also participated in the meeting.

He said that a two days meeting should be organized to discuss new ideas on strengthening the Textile sector. At least 50% participants should be youngsters and there should be involvement of Quality Control of India (QCI), Commerce, DPIIT, Finance, Banking Export Insurance for holistic engagement so as overarching themes may be discussed.

The Union Minister said that last year, Textile export was approx. 42 billion USD while the target is to achieve 100 billion USD by next 5-6 years. He mentioned that if achieved, the economic value of the sector will be 250 billion USD collectively for domestic and international.

Goyal introduced Ms. Rachna Shah, IAS with the EPCs, who will be officially taking charge as Secretary Ministry of Textile on November 1st, 2022 after superannuation of UP Singh, Secretary Textile on October 31st, 2022.

He directed Ms. Shah should visit the Textile hubs like in Surat, Noida, Tiruppur-Coimbatore and others. In addition, applications proposed under PM Mitra around these hubs may also be visited for observation and recording response of the industry representatives.

He said that funds are available under Textile Mission and should be utilized in new projects. He added the potential of Textile Sector may be showcased in G-20. Participation of industry representatives in the shopping festivals recently announced by the Finance Minister may also be pursued, he said. Source: PIB