Haryana doubles floor area ratio for apparel & leather industries

11 Nov '08

2 min read

The Haryana state government today announced doubling the floor area ratio (FAR) to 250 per cent for apparel and footwear manufacturers and said it will give priority for the Apparel Export Promotion Council's proposal to set up an educational initiative near Rohtak.

"We will provide conducive atmosphere for investments in the readymade garment sector," said chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He said there is need to capacity enhancement and skill development in the labour-intensive sector.

Mr Hooda was speaking after laying the foundation stone for a building of the AEPC's Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) and Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC).

The IAM trains managerial cadre professionals in apparel export, fashion and retail sectors by conducting post-graduate programmes ranging from one year to 18 months. About 42 centres of the ATDC provide training for semi-skilled labour requirements of the industry.

Meanwhile, AEPC chairman Rakesh Vaid called for allotment of upto 30 acres of land from the Haryana state government for establishing a training and design centre besides a research and development centre.

Readymade garments worth Rs 6,000 crore are exported from Haryana annually, providing employment to 10 lakh workers.

Mr Vaid said the National Textile Policy calls for increasing India's share of three per cent in the global textile and apparel trade to 10 per cent. For this, the industry will need investment of Rs 194,000 crore by 2012.

There is a training requirement of over one crore workers to support these targets, he said. By the year 2012 when the government rationalises import duties, he said, competing countries could sell their cheaper goods in Indian market. "To counter this threat, we must make our own industry more competitive, strong and vibrant."

Mr Vaid said the ATDCs provide required trained manpower to micro manufacturing activities at village and taluka levels which empower women by teaching them various skills like embroidery, arts and crafts.

Readymade garments worth Rs 45,000 crore were exported from India during 2007-08. The textile and clothing sector contributes four per cent to the country's GDP and 16 per cent to total exports.

After agriculture, it ranks as the second largest employment generator giving jobs to 21 per cent of India's population.

Apparel Export Promotion Council

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