Unveiling a new textile policy for 2018-2023, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday announced that his Government would give a concession of Rs 3 per unit of power for the co-operative cotton mills and Rs 2 per unit of electricity for power looms, cloth processing, garment and hosiery units in the State.
Fadnavis also announced that in an effort to promote the processing of cotton, silk and other raw material used for traditional and man-made means, the State Government intended to invest as much as Rs 4,649 crore on various schemes to be implemented under “Fibre to fashion” mission from 2018 to 2023.
“Through the implementation of new textile policy, we intend to create 10 lakh jobs during the next five years,” the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said that the new textile policy was being implemented under “Make in Maharashtra” mission to encourage farmers, women and artisans. “Under the new policy, we will also encourage the used of unconventional power by the textile units in the State,” he said.
Fadnavis said that the State Government had set aside Rs 150 crore per year to fund the concessional power supply scheme, which will be implemented for the next three years. “All those textile units having a capacity less than 107 HP will be eligible for the concession in the power supply rates. The unit availing the concessions need to undertake unconventional power projects like solar units and wind mills,” he said
In another announcement, the Chief Minister said that as part of the implementation of the new textile policy, the Maharashtra Government would set up a new textile university in the State. “In addition, our Government would give a financial assistance of 10 per cent to all those entrepreneurs engaged in the production of cloth through unconventional means using banana, bamboo and coconut fibres. Apart from opening special outlets to market cloths manufactured from unconventional means, we will give electricity to such units at concessional rates,” Fadnavis said.
Among other salient features of the new textile policyare: opening of special markets for silk cloths, setting up of textile clusters, garment parks and creation of silk tourism circles at Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Chandrapur along the similar silk circles that exist at Ajanta and Ellora.
The Chief Minister also announced that apart from encouraging the use of gree energy, the State Government would also promote the use of organic thread, natural colours and Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) in the processing of cloths.