The western Indian state of Maharashtra is to get its first technical textiles park at Ichalkaranji off Kolhapur in the state's western region. According to a report in the Business Standard yesterday the project involves an investment of Rs 110 crore, Rs 50 crore of which will come from central and local government subsidy.

The balance of Rs 60 crore will be raised through members' contributions, loans and subsidies under India's Technology Up-Gradation Fund.

Prakash Awade, who is the developer of the project together with a group of micro, small and medium enterprises, told the newspaper that the proposal had already been submitted to the textiles ministry and the approval was expected shortly.

"The idea is to build up a Common Facility Centre (CFC) and meet the needs of small and medium entrepreneurs in the technical textiles segment. The CFC will have all the necessary expertise to complete the job work as proposed by the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs who will be part of the proposed technical textiles park," Mr Awade told the Business Standard.

According to the report, the park will be commissioned in next six months as the land was tied up in a local estate.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan says the proposed technical textiles park will add value to the traditional textiles sector and lead to a manifold increase in revenues.

Currently, only 25% of cotton grown in Maharashtra is processed within its boundaries and the rest goes to other states which have more developed textiles industries, the report said. Chavan is said to have requested the government to set up a public sector venture capital fund to encourage entrepreneurs to explore new areas of technical textiles.

The  move comes at a time when the recent Ficci study shows the Indian technical textiles industry is projected to grow to Rs 1.4 trillion ($31.4 billion) by 2016-17.

Source: Business Standard