1st PM MITRA Park comes up in Virudhunagar Tamil Nadu

India’s first PM MITRA Park (Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel Park) was launched in Virudhunagar district on 22 March with the Centre and the state government signing an agreement. Eleven firms have also signed MoUs to establish their units with a total investment of 1,231 crore in the park generating 6,315 jobs. It will come up on 1,052 acres at E. Kumaralingapuram village offering plug-and-play facilities as part of an integrated value chain.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, chief minister MK Stalin said, Tamil Nadu accounts for one-third of the country’s handloom production. “The infrastructure would be developed at a cost of 2,000 crore, which includes 500 crore subsidy provided by the Union government. It will generate employment opportunities for two lakh youngsters when the park is fully operational.” He also sought the Centre’s assis- tance for a new textile park at Salem through Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) and integrated processing development scheme (IPDS).

Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, said: “Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MKS, my good friend has always given a very warm welcome whenever I’ve met him. He has led Tamil Nadu’s development journey and made it a one trillion dollar economy.

We are all assembled here in the 75th year of India’s independence, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. It is a matter of great joy and celebration as we think about all the wonderful achievements the nation has made in 75 years. Today, the world faces tough challenges, difficult times, we have barely come out of COVID, which is again increasing everyday. We have a war going on in Europe. There is inflation across the world and economies are collapsing.

In this very difficult times, the country led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, is a bright spot in the world. In- dia is the beacon of development and is the fastest growing large economy in the world. Today the world looks up to India to provide leadership and solve the problems of the world. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, is the world ‘s most popular leader today. He has given all of us a mission, a vision, to work together to make India a developed nation when we celebrate 100 years of independence in 2047.

It is indeed an honor for me to be in the land of God, to be in Tamil Nadu with all of you celebrating the first PM Mitra Textile Park. Honourable Chief Minister, I think throughout the world, when a wedding takes place in any Indian family, they will certainly have a kanjivaram silk sari. When the states had to be selected for the PM Mitra Parks, the officials were given clear direction that the process will be a very transparent and very open process. And every state that has done well in the textile sector where there is immense interest of the investors to invest in the textile industry should get priority. It is with that spirit of cooperation and collaboration, and also with a little bit of competition between states, that the entire process was run, and finally Tamil Nadu was one of the 7 states selected. I congratulate all the people of Tamil Nadu and the government of Tamil Nadu, led by Thiru MKs for being selected for the PM Mitra Park.

I hope you will invite me to Virudhunagar for the foundation stone laying ceremony and invite honourable Prime Minister so that we can also get the blessings of Lord Vishnu at the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple.

At present the whole supply value chain of textiles and apparel is frag- mented and spread out all over the country, making it very inefficient and costly. Most of the time, we are only transporting materials at very high cost from one place to the other. For example, we source cotton from farm- ers in one state, Maharashtra, take it to a ginning mill in some other area. From there it will go to a spinning mill in a 3rd place which maybe a few hundred kilometres away. Then it will go for weaving, processing and finally, apparel will be made in some other place maybe in Bengaluru! After that, the fashion design inputs will come from Mumbai or Delhi. And finally, the final product is taken to the port to be exported. It appears we are only transporting material from one place to the other incurring a very high cost.

Our Prime Minister, therefore, gave the idea of 5Fs farm-fiber-fabric-fashion- foreign. The entire value chain in the textile industry gets modern with plug and play infrastructure. All the facili- ties, effluent treatment, plant testing facilities, high quality utilities are avail- able at one place through an integrat- ed textile park. Each of these parks will create huge employment opportunity. Collectively, it is estimated nearly 20,00,000. Peo- ple will get new jobs. 70,000 crores of investment will come in. It will give a big boost to the textile sector. It will expand our export competitiveness and earn precious foreign exchange. All of this leading towards an Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

Once again, my grateful thanks to the government of Tamil Nadu, ably led by Thiru MKS, the Honourable Chief Minister. His other ministers, the people of Tamil Nadu and all the business persons of Tamil. Nadu, who are collectively making Tamil Nadu a leading state in the textile sector. I’m sure together we can move mountains, we can make India truly a developed nation. The nation that cares for all. A nation that is progressing to make the lives of every Indian happy and full of prosperity.

The MOU between the Govt of Tamil Nadu and the Ministry of Textiles, GoI, for setting up of the PM MITRA Mega Textile and Apparel Park at Virudhunagar, was exchanged by Shri Krishnan, additional Chief Secretary, Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce Govt of Tamil Nadu and Mr Rohit Kansal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI.

List of Textile and Apparel projects for which MOUs were exchanged:

1. Rs. 100 crore wet processing unit by Gainup Indus- tries India Private Limited
2. Rs.150 crore spinning & apparel manufacturing unit by Kartya Textiles Private Limited
3. Rs. 600 crore spinning unit by Rajapalayam Mills Lim- ited
4. Rs. 125 crore wet processing unit by Paramount Textile Mills Private Limited
5. Rs. 100 crore wet processing unit by Thiagarajar Mills Private Limited
6. Rs. 51 crore wet processing unit by KRL Textile Private Limited plans
7. Rs. 65 crore integrated technical textile manufacturing unit by Loyal Textile Mills Limited
8. Rs. 10 crore composite textile manufacturing unit by Asmine Towels Private Limited, a Madurai based manufacturer and exporter of textiles.
9. Rs. 10 crore plant for manufacturing of sanitary napkins and its raw materials by a Chennai-based Health- care company.
10. Rs. 10 crore plant for setting up of coir geotextile and coir yarn manufacturing unit by a Chennai-based Infra Project company.
11. Rs. 10 crore plant for manufacturing yarn from all natural fibers by Tejomaya Solutions LLP, Chennai.