India needs to reduce import dependency of textile machinery: Piyush Goyal

Union Minister of Trade and Textiles Piyush Goyal has urged the textile industry to develop 100 Indian textile machinery champions recognized across the world to reduce the import dependency of textile machinery.

Goyal was interacting with textile machinery manufacturers in a video conference ‘Technology gaps and the way forward for textile machinery manufacturers’. The Minister also asked the textile machinery manufacturers to come out of the command-and-control mindset and work through plug-and-play to make the textile sector come alive in name and enthusiasm.

“India must become a global player in producing textile machinery, mass production, producing machinery of choice with the quality and quantity that the world requires. We are not against imports, but we should reduce the import dependency of textile machinery in India by working together between the textile engineering industry and the government. The focus on quality will help us capture bigger markets and higher productivity.”

Goyal expressed hope that a modern and advanced textile machinery ecosystem would have a huge impact on the unorganized Indian textile industry. “This will set the pace for continued advancement and innovation, resulting in growth and enhancement of competitive capabilities along the value chain. The machinery manufacturing facility will change the inertia of the status quo, enhance mobility along the value chain and drive domestic consumption and imports. To promote exports of high value goods while gradually reducing dependence, it is important to synergize the efforts of the Government (eg) Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Digital Innovation / Adaptation Potential, so as to enhance the manufacturing value chain. May our quest to increase efficiency by reducing cost, he said.

The Minister informed that the Heavy Industries Capital Goods Scheme is a pilot scheme designed to support the industry for modernization of domestic technologies. “The National Capital Goods Policy is a manufacturing sector policy formulated by the Government of India that aims to increase the production of capital goods from approximately $31 billion in 2014-15 to $101 billion by 2025,” he said.