The federal textile minister announced on Tuesday that India intends to provide production linked incentives (PLI) to small textile businesses in the near future as part of its goal to raise garment exports to $50 billion by 2030.
In 2021, the government imposed incentives on the textile industry. To date, 64 proposals totaling 198 billion rupees ($2.37 billion) have been accepted by the government to encourage the manufacture of technological textiles, apparel, and fabric composed of man-made fibers (MMF).
At the India International Garment Fair, federal textile minister Giriraj Singh stated, “We are considering to review the PLI scheme,” pointing out that the program has shown to be very successful in drawing in investments and increasing output.
The labor-intensive industry, a top goal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, he claimed, could benefit from state incentives for enhancing product quality, breaking into new markets, and striking free trade agreements with a number of nations, including the UAE and Australia.
The minister stated, “We are working on a roadmap to move ahead of China, not only Bangladesh in textiles,” and added that his ministry will soon meet with major corporations to learn about their concerns.
With over 45 million workers, India’s $170 billion textile and clothing sector has been seeing a fall in exports as American and European customers reduce their spending in 2023 due to difficult financial circumstances.
Exports of clothing and textiles fell from a record $44.51 billion in 2021/22 to $35.94 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March of 2023–2024, according to statistics from the commerce ministry.
Ahead of the annual budget next month, garment exporters are putting pressure on government ministers to cut the PLI scheme’s investment threshold limit from 10 to 30 billion rupees to 150 million to 300 million rupees, in addition to increasing bank loan subsidies.
