Tamil Nadu Has Largest Number Of Textile Mills And Most Closed In A Year
Having seen the maximum number of textile mills closed in a year, the state of Tamil Nadu today has the dual distinction of holding the maximum number of textile mills and the maximum number of the shutdowns. In 2016 a total of 232 textile mills were shut in Tamil Nadu, the highest for any state. Also, Tamil Nadu continues to hold the largest number of operational textile mills too – 752. This is important because while Tamil Nadu accounts for less than 2 per cent of the country’s total raw cotton production, it has almost half of cotton spinning capacity in the country.
Apart from Tamil Nadu, the numbers of operational mills in Maharashtra also declined by 85 while those in the state of Uttar Pradesh declined by 60.
As per the latest government data, Minister of Textiles disclosed that there are 1399 operational, non-small scale industry (Non-SSI) textile mills in the country. Tamil Nadu topped the list with 752 mills followed by Maharashtra (135), and Andhra Pradesh (112 mills). As per the data, the states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Diu and Manipur incorporated no single textile mill in the last year. This is because Assam and Bihar saw the closure of 8 and 6 mills respectively leaving them with none at present. The states comprising one mill each are Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand.
In order to set up new textile mills in the country, the Government launched the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) on January, 2016. Under the scheme, certain benefits were made available such as one time capital subsidy at 15 per cent for the garmenting and technical textiles segments with a cap of Rs.30 crores and 10 per cent for segments including weaving, processing, jute, silk and handloom with a subsidy cap of Rs 20 crore.
According to the textile minister Smriti Irani, “Government launched Scheme for Production and Employment Linked Support for Garmenting Units (SPELSGU) on July, 2016, under which an additional subsidy of 10 per cent was made available to new textile units.”
On the contrary, 682 non-small scale industry textile mills have been closed recently, out of which, 232 were closed in Tamil Nadu, Based on a report done by Office of the Textile Commissioner, 610 cotton or man- made fibre textile mills (Non-SSI) were closed having 300697 numbers of workers on their payroll.
Minister of State for Textiles, Ajay Tamta said that Ministry has been implementing the Textile Workers Rehabilitation Fund Scheme (TWRFS) with effect from 1986.
He added, “Under the scheme, interim relief is provided to textile workers rendered unemployed as consequences of permanent closure of private non-SSI mills. It has been decided to merge this scheme with Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana with effect from April, 2017.”
