Bengal textile policy to help sector grow, say chambers

KOLKATA, INDIA: With the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal coming up with a draft textile policy to attract investment to revive the sector, leading industry lobbies have expressed hope that the policy roadmap would help the industry to grow significantly.

States like Maharashtra and Gujarat unveiled their new textile policies last year to woo investors.

"A policy was necessary. It will surely help Bengal's textile sector grow rapidly. The roadmap is also expected to ensure a higher contribution from the state to the country's textile sector in the days ahead," Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) secretary D.P. Nag told IANS.

"The sector has a lot of potential in terms of employment generation," Nag observed.

Addressing the media at the state secretariat here, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday said the draft textile policy was ready.

The state government has uploaded the draft policy on its websites and invited suggestions from various industry bodies as well as business community.

Welcoming a textile policy for the state, FICCI said many of the suggestions of the chamber were reflected in the draft policy being issued by the government for comments.

"West Bengal has a long history and tradition in textiles, but there was a need for a policy roadmap which will revive, modernise and broad base the state's textile industry and integrate it with the global market," said FICCI senior vice president Sidharth Birla.

As other states had come up with very competitive textile policy and attracted significant investments as a result in the last few years, it was important that Bengal also came up with an ambitious policy to attract investments, Birla said in a statement.