The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Textiles Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar will chair the Annual Conference of State Textiles Ministers here tomorrow. The purpose of the Conference of the State Ministers of Textiles is to deliberate and ponder upon the course of action which needs to be taken ahead for serving the industry and the nation in a better manner. For the accomplishment of the shared national objective of increased production, export and generating employment in the textile sector, the initiatives of the Central and State Governments need to complement each other.

Officials from the Ministry of Textiles will have a brainstorming session with the State Ministers of Textiles throughout the day on ways to take the textile industry to greater heights with the objective of giving a boost to quality production, export and employment.

The State Ministers of Textiles will also be asked to emphasise on ways to generate productive employment opportunity for the youth through the textile sector. Stress should also be laid on inclusive and participative growth; skill, scale and speed; Zero Defect-Zero Effect and Make in India brand.

The Ministry is also in the process of finalising the New Textile Policy. For this, an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. Ajay Shankar, Member Secretary of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, has prepared a draft report on the ‘Vision, Strategy and Action Plan for the Indian Textile and Apparel Sector’. All State Governments and Union Territories had been asked to give their views and suggestions for necessary action to be taken. These views and suggestions would be looked upon in the Conference tomorrow.

India’s textiles and clothing industry is one of the mainstays of the national economy. It is also one of the largest contributing sectors of India’s exports contributing nearly 13.25 per cent of the country’s total exports basket. The textiles sector has realised export earnings worth USD 41.57 billion in 2013-14.