Textile Minister Urges Tamil Nadu to Invest in ₹11,000 Crore PLI Scheme for Technical Textiles

Union Textile Minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday urged the Tamil Nadu textile and apparel industry to leverage the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for technical textiles and manmade fibre (MMF) sector, for which the central government has allocated ₹11,000 crore.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Tiruppur Exporters Association (TEA) in Tiruppur, Singh said the Centre has relaxed norms for the PLI scheme to encourage investments in technical textiles and MMF sectors.

The Minister outlined that new schemes planned by the ministry are designed to be pro-industry, factoring in machinery, employment, and other aspects. He expressed hope that the state and central governments would work together.

Singh also urged the industry to consider investing in states where labour is readily available.

Providing an update on silk production, he noted that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, annual silk production stood at 26,000 tonnes, which has now increased to 43,000 tonnes. He projected that by 2030, it would reach 60,000 tonnes. He emphasised that India should export more silk-based garments blended with other fibres.

A. Sakthivel, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, said the Textile Ministry is introducing new initiatives every two months and that all seven PM MITRA parks are now operational.

K.M. Subramanian, president of TEA, requested early implementation of the Textile Expansion and Employment Scheme (TEEM) and extension of benefits under the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies for three more years.

Later, the Minister interacted with textile machinery manufacturers and met officials of the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) in Coimbatore. In response to demands to extend TEEM scheme benefits to spinning and cotton ginning machines, he asked the industry to provide details for the ministry to study.

The Minister called on the Tamil Nadu industry to aim for tripling exports and to invest in making indigenous machinery for knitting, weaving, and processing sectors.

Singh also inaugurated a GM Testing Laboratory for cotton and cotton-derived materials at SITRA. The laboratory will address the growing need for traceability, quality assurance, and compliance in global cotton trade. It will help exporters meet organic standards such as GOTS and OCS, which mandate qualitative GM cotton screening. The laboratory has received NABL accreditation in its recent assessment.