A close analysis of previous years’ budgets reveals patchy allocations and utilisation of funds. The government allocated ₹4,417 crore ($510 million) for the current fiscal year 2024-25, which was a 28 per cent higher allocation compared to the revised budget of ₹3,443 crore ($397 million) for the fiscal year 2023-24. The budget allocation was quite higher at ₹4,389 crore ($507 million) for fiscal year 2023-24. However, the ministry could utilise only ₹3,443 crore ($397 million) during the fiscal year. This reveals that the budget allocation for fiscal year 2024-25 was just 0.63 per cent higher than the budget allocation for fiscal year 2023-24.
Interestingly, the budget allocation for fiscal year 2023-24 was 32.6 per cent higher than the actual budget of ₹3,309 crore ($382 million) in fiscal year 2022-23. The India budget portal has not released the revised/actual budget for the current fiscal year 2024-25, which may be lower than the budget allocation. The ministry’s revised/actual budget remained very low at ₹3,309 crore ($382 million) in 2022-23 and ₹3,443 crore ($397 million) in 2023-24.
The finance minister is likely to increase the budget allocation by 33 per cent for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles, with its allocation expected to rise from ₹45 crore ($5.20 million) to ₹60 crore ($6.93 million). The PLI scheme for textiles was launched in 2021 to promote the production of man-made fibre (MMF) apparel, MMF fabrics, and technical textile products. It was aimed at helping the textiles industry scale up and compete globally.
According to an official, the government has ambitious targets for the textiles sector and is exploring measures to encourage domestic manufacturing. The finance minister may announce other initiatives for the textile industry.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)