Garment Industry experts believe that Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of setting up seven mega textile parks over the next three years could prove to be the much-needed push for India’s textile and apparel export industry, which has lost out to Asian peers over the past few years.

Sitharaman had in her budget speech said mega investment textile parks will enable the industry to become globally competitive, attract large investments and boost employment generation.

The plug-and-play model announced by the Centre will eliminate a huge requirement of capital expenditure and funds, said Rahul Mehta, chief mentor, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India.

The move is a big boost for the textiles industry in India. China is the largest supplier of garments to the world. Bangladesh and Vietnam have also come up really well because of low-cost structures and trade agreements. With the help of 7 plug-and-play parks, India could emerge as a strong global player in textile and garments exports, said Sanjay Jain, Chief Executive Officer, PDS Multinational Fashions

Setting up of textile parks along with the production-linked incentive scheme for technical textile and man-made fabric producers and reduction in customs duty for caprolactam, nylon chips and nylon fibre to 5 per cent will help apparel exporters enhance their share in global markets over the medium term, added Hetal Gandhi, Director-Textiles, CRISIL Research.