Industry leaders demand textile machinery park in city

Surat: The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) has submitted a representation to the Union Textile ministry for setting up of the textile machinery park in the city for promoting the indigenous manufacturing.
Representatives from the textile industry led by SGCCI president Ketan Desai, held discussions with the special secretary of textile ministry at New Delhi for promoting the indigenous manufacturing of textile machinery and reducing the dependence on the countries like China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan for the import of high-end textile machinery.
Talking with TOI, Desai said, “Majority of the high-end machinery in the textile sector is imported from Far East countries including China. There are textile machinery manufacturers in Surat and south Gujarat who are capable to match the standards of the machine manufacturers in foreign countries. We have represented the government for setting up textile machinery park in the city.”
Desai added, “In a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we had discussed to promote indigenous manufacturing of textile machinery and that he had instructed the respective departments to work out a strategy.”
According to Desai, about 7,500 embroidery machines and more than 3,000 water-jet and air-jet machines are imported from in the city per annum.
Hetal Mehta, former president of SGCCI said, “We are going to prepare a detailed reported on the imports of textile machinery and that it will be submitted to the textile ministry for further action. Along with the textile machinery park, we have demanded that the indigenous manufacturers should be given facilities for the research and development of new products.”