Textiles Minister S Vaghela says 'no' to FDI from China

24 May '05

2 min read

China will not be allowed to invest in India, says Union textile minister Shankersinh Vaghela.

Stating that the FDI in the sector was not up to the mark, accepting FDI from its biggest competitor, China will influence major policy decisions in the sector, he opined.

Already countries like the US and Turkey have shown keen interest in investing here, Vaghela informed.

Meanwhile. against an anticipated investment of $30 billion in the coming three years, last two years attracted only $4 billion, say industry insiders.

Having set an ambitious export target of $50 million by 2010, the textile ministry says India requires investment of over Rs 40,000 crore per annum over the next five years to ensure the Indian textile products compete China's products globally.

News is already out that world's largest retailer Wal-Mart, is shifting base from China to India to source it's requirements.

Government has also announced a slew of policies like establishment of the special economic zone (SEZ) as also the National Foreign Trade Policy (NFTP), which will increase investments in the sector.

Poor investments though, Vaghela said many new textile units were coming up and several foreign textile companies are making investments in India. He believed that investment targets would be achieved from next year onwards on these basis, he added.

Expressing contentment at the performance of the textile industry in general, last year, he added that Textile Ministry was the seventh best performer among all the ministries.

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