The Progressive Punjab Investors Summit-2019 on Friday witnessed a lively discussion among the giants of the textile industry and delegates from across India during a brainstorming panel discussion on Punjab: New Destination for Garmenting and Technical Textiles’, at ISB Mohali. The panel discussion was conducted by Managing Director, Shingora Textiles Limited, Amit Jain and was participated by eminent players from the textile Industry, including Vice Chairman and MD, Nahar Industrial Enterprises Limited, Kamal Oswal; Vice President and Head Market Development, Reliance Industries Limited, Gopesranjan Das; Chairman Apparel Export Promotion HKL Maggu; Director Shahi Exports JD Giri; and MD Million Exporter Private Limited Narinder Chugh. The panellists spoke on various aspects of the textile industry, garment clusters, centre of excellence in apparel, technology advancement, skilled manpower, labour subsidy, use of information technology for growth, among others. The participants agreed that there were ample opportunities for growth and investment in the textile sector in Punjab. They said that Punjab was doing well in terms of providing a conducive environment to industry through cheaper power tariff, labour subsidy, GST incentives, and peaceful work culture. They, however, felt the state needed to developed local skilled manpower as it was currently mostly dependent upon the migratory labour.
They also said that dissemination of knowledge by the textile giants, exchange of ideas and best practices to the others could do wonders for Punjab, to enable it to develop on the lines of Tirupur city, which leads the country in the textile sector.Speaking at the end of the discussion, Punjab Industry and Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora said that the Punjab Government led by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has set up skill development centers in the districts. He added that recently, his department has also sought suggestions from the industrialists about their need regarding the type of workforce, following which the department jad started several courses in ITIs to prepare a skilled workforce locally. Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary MP Singh spoke about the incentives offered by Punjab Government for making the state a textile hub. He said that the textile industry had contributed significantly to Punjab’s economic growth and stated that the state ranked third in installed spinning capacity in India and also accounts for 95% of India’s woollen knitwear production.Singh further added that textile industry accounts for 19% of the total industrial output (Gross Value Added) of Punjab and in terms of exports, the share of Textiles in the State’s total exports stands at 21%.Trident Group chairman and business tycoon Rajinder Gupta described Punjab the finest state for the textile sector. He said that the entrepreneurship was in the blood of Punjabis. He stressed the need to promote cultivation of cotton, also called white gold, in the whole of Punjab.