A meeting of textile ministers of all states would be convened in September end to fine tune the draft textile policy, so that the Union government can soon come out with a national textile policy, Minister of State for Textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar said at the inauguration of the silver jubilee celebrations of Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) in Tirupur.

A textile venture capital fund would be set up with an initial capital of Rs. 35 crore, which would be scaled up further, the MoS said.

As the Ministry has started receiving several applications in regard to new textile parks, it would be set up at the earliest. The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already announced a scheme in the Budget for setting up of 25 new textile parks.

The government provides Rs. 70 crore subsidy for setting up processing park and had for the first time allocated Rs. 500 crore for the initiative.

Gangawar claimed that the increase in the duty-free import of trimmings and embellishments from three to five per cent of the Free On Board value for the garmenting sector would result in additional export of value added garments to the tune of Rs. 10,000 crore.

TEA President A Shaktivel, present at the occasion said that they will provide employment for 250 days (for MGREGS beneficiaries) and make them learn skills which will be useful for their entire lifetime.

He urged the government to extend Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the garment sector.

Tirupur can take its own pride that within a matter of two decades the export has grown up by leaps and bounds, from less than Rs.10 Crores in 1984 to Rs.18,000 Crores in 2013-14.