Major textile bodies in the region on Wednesday welcomed the Union Budget by terming it as one aiming at strong and stable economic growth. The budget mentions the seven priorities “Saptarishi” that would trigger the economic growth. The priority for infrastructure development would reduce logistics cost.

The thrust on inclusive growth and skill development would help the labour- and capital- intensive textile industry. The government considered the proposal submitted by SIMA and announced a scheme for increasing the production of extra-long staple cotton. SIMA can match international ELS cotton varieties and would take initiatives to increase the production.

After introduction of BT technology only for long staple cotton, the industry started facing shortage of ELS cotton. The industry requirement of ELS cotton is around 2 million bales while the country produces only 0.5 million bales and heavily depends on imports of superior quality ELS cotton. This is an initiative towards the Aatmanirbar Bharat benefit for the whole textile value chain, including the cotton farmers.