The Cabinet has approved a Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for man-made fibers and technical textiles sectors.

The cabinet has approved the PLI scheme for textiles for MMF (man-made fibre) apparel, MMF fabrics and ten segments/products of technical textiles with a budgetary outlay of ₹10,683 crore that will be provided over 5 years.

To run over the next five years, the scheme is expected to bring in 7.5 lakh new jobs and help Indian producers switch from Cotton textiles to these new products which account for two-thirds of global textile production, Textile Minister Piyush Goyal said on 8 September.

“So far, we have primarily focused on cotton textile. But 2/3 share of the international textile market is of man-made & technical textile. This PLI scheme has been approved so that India can also contribute to the production of man-made fibers,” Piyush Goyal said.

The scheme aims to boost the production of these products and regain India’s position as one of the largest sources of apparels and textiles globally. While India remains one of the largest producers globally, its share of global production and exports have constantly eroded over the past decade as smaller nations like Bangladesh and Thailand have raced ahead.

“Companies which will set up factories in aspirational districts and Tier-III and Tier-IV will be given priority while allocating incentives. The number of jobs created will also be taken into consideration,” Goyal said.

Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha stand to be the front-running states which are expected to benefit from this, he added. However, he asked other states to also bring out their schemes for textiles and add to this.

The scheme has generated widescale praise from domestic industry. “The global MMF market is about $ 200 billion and India should aim to get 10 percent of the market in the next 5 years. The MMF apparels currently account for 20 percent of our overall apparel exports and we should increase its share to 50 percent in next 5 years, said Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel.