Efforts are on to take India to the No. 1 position by beating China, in the textile sector, particularly exports, Union Minister for Textiles, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, said here today.

“However, there is a huge gap between the No.1 and No.2 positions and to overcome this, there is a need to change the policy, particularly in the field of Labour Laws,” Gangwar told reporters on the sidelines of a function got up in connection with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), here.

Stating that the Government, i.e., the Labour Ministry, was in the process of amending the Labour Laws, in consultation with all stakeholders, he said that once this was done, India would start climbing to the top slot in textile sector in the world.

When pointed out that there was opposition from several parties and organisations, Gangwar said, “No problem, we will take all together”.

To a question on implementation of the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme, Textile Commissioner, Kavita Gupta, who was also present, said that the notification had been issued and the guidelines would be in place in 10 to 15 days.

To another question on setting up processing parks, the weakest link in the sector, Gangwar said that the Ministry had announced six such parks, including one for Tamil Nadu, under Integrated Processing Development Scheme, at a cost of Rs.75 crore each.

Earlier, inaugurating the celebrations, the Minister lauded the contribution of SITRA in making the Indian textile sector scale new heights and also putting the country on the world map, with its new technology.

In her address, Ms. Gupta exhorted the captains of the industry to ensure that technical textiles, an emerging segment, contributed 40 per cent of the entire textile sector by 2040, which was at present only 13 per cent, including medical textiles.

Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Anu Garg in his address said that the Ministry was in the process of setting up standards for textile products in a phased manner to get HSN Code, which was expected in four or five months.