The Centre has selected sites in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to set up new textile parks, a year and a half after the PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme was announced.

Listing the seven selected States in a tweet on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the parks would “provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for the textiles sector, attract investment of crores and create lakhs of jobs”.

The scheme was announced in October 2021, and the parks will be set up by 2026-27. The total outlay for the project is ₹4,445 crore, though the intial allocation in the 2023-24 Budget is only ₹200 crore.

“PM MITRA mega textile parks will boost the textiles sector in line with 5F (Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign) vision,” Mr. Modi tweeted, adding that the scheme would be a great example of the government’s policy of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for the World’.

The Centre envisages an investment of nearly ₹70,000 crore into the parks, with employment generation for about 20 lakh people, Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal said.

The parks will function as centres of opportunity to create an integrated textiles value chain — from spinning, weaving, processing, dyeing and printing to garment manufacturing — all at one location. “The textile industry has been unorganised. This increased wastage and logistical costs impact the competitiveness of country’s textile sector. The cluster-based approach, a vision of the Prime Minister, will solve several problems of the sector,” Mr. Goyal said. Environmental clearances would also be eased under the scheme, he said.

Textiles Secretary Rachna Shah said the Ministry had selected the locations in a transparent manner, having considered 18 proposals from 13 States.