MITRA to boost jobs

The Union Cabinet has approved the scheme of seven mega textiles-and-apparel parks (MITRA). This will be a shot in the arm for the Indian textiles sector. Both the Centre and the respective state governments will support the parks. They will have integrated facilities and plug-and-play infrastructure. The parks will span across an area of 1,000 acres. The Centre will incentivize the creation of these facilities, while states will pitch in with the requisite land, likely in areas close to seaports.

Source: Pexels

MITRA was initially announced in Union Budget FY22. The aim of the scheme is to build scale across the textiles-to-garments value chain. To build common infrastructure, a generous capital support will be offered. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs 4,445 crore. It would create direct employment of 7 lakh and indirect employment twice that number – Minister for Textiles Piyush Goyal said.

“The parks will be located in seven states which will be selected based on competition among them to provide maximum facilities such as cheap land, electricity and water as well as simpler labour compliance procedures,” the minister stated. Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana have expressed an interest in the MITRA parks. Textiles secretary UP Singh had stated before, “Such mega parks will be able to better draw overseas buyers by offering a broad range of products and cater for large orders, given the greater synergy among its resident entities”.

The MITRA parks will have various amenities. These include constant water and power supply, common utilities and research and development labs. The parks seek to minimize transportation losses. The aim is to attract big-ticket investments in this high-potential sector.