Pradhan seeks MITRA Park in Odisha

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the Center to establish a green field MITRA (Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel) Park in Odisha in view of the state's untapped potential in the textile sector.

Pradhan has written to his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal, the minister in-charge of textile, commerce and industry, seeking the setting up of a MITRA park in the state which has a long and rich history in textile and worldwide acclaim for their signature weaves like ikkat, Sambalpuri, Berhampuri and bomkei.

This coupled with locally available competence in the sector gives Odisha the unique position to attract investments in the textiles and apparel sector, Pradhan said in his letter on Monday. The textile ministry has recently announced setting up of seven MITRA Parks in the country which will be developed as special purpose vehicles owned by state government and the government of India in a public-private partnership mode with the aim to help companies from the country to emerge as global champions in textile and the apparel sector, he said.

The state has also emerged as the knowledge and skill hub with the presence of globally recognized institutes of higher learning and research and skill development including CIPET, IIT, IIM, IIIT, NIT, AIIMS, NISER, Skill Development Institute, Indian Oil's Institute of Chemical Technology, Odisha campus over the past few years, he said.

In his letter Pradhan said: "…Request you to consider a green field MITRA (Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel) Park in the state of Odisha considering its immense untapped potential in the sector, which shall go a long way in ensuing the success of Mission Purvodaya envisioned by Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji." The Mission seeks to drive the development of eastern India.

The union minister said that the state is one of the first to have a dedicated Skill Development Authority which developed customised training programme for workers based on industry requirement. Odisha is uniquely poised logistically and industrially too with a wide network of 10,000 km of highways, ports at Dhamra, Pradip and Gopalpur, its proximity to industrial hubs and the Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline gas pipeline which passes through the state.

Apparel and textile, including technical textiles is one of the six focus sectors of the state. It has an industrial policy and an apparel policy in place to ensure smooth clearance of projects and provide adequate incentive to the industries.

Under the apparel policy, capital grant of 20 per cent of the project cost upto Rs 20 crore and interest free loan up to 15 per cent with maximum limit of Rs 10 crore is available to the industries presently.

Companies such as Shahi Exports, Aditya Birla Fashion and several others have already set up their manufacturing bases in Odisha, Pradhan said in his letter.

Besides, two textile and apparel parks are currently under construction near Dhamra port and near the capital city of Bhubaneswar. Both are ready with facilities like power, water and boundary walls, he said.

A technical textile park is being developed in Bhadrak. This dedicated park is being anchored by a 300 KTPA IOCL polyster and fiber plant with committed feedback of 100 KTPA polyster staple fiber, 165 ktpa drawn texturised yarn and 35 KTPA of fully drawn yarn, Pradhan added.

Union textiles secretary U P Singh while attending a textile investors meet here Monday had said said that Odisha has one of the most conducive ecosystems for expansion of the sector. While the state has a reputation for hand loom and handicraft, its presence in the textile sector requires more boost. Odisha has a conducive eco system for the textiles sector as it has a stable political system, ample availability of skilled man power and stable power supply, he said.

Singh said the Centre is targeting to increase textiles exports to USD 44 billion this fiscal and USD 100 billion in the next five years.

It also aims to increase the size of the industry from USD 140 billion to USD 250 billion in the coming years. The growth will come not only from cotton but from man made fibres and technical textiles too, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)