With the aim to improve investments and exports in the garment sectors, the Uttar Pradesh government is all set to develop an apparel park in Noida.

“If we look at the data for the financial year 2021-2022, the share of textiles and apparel in the goods exported from Uttar Pradesh was 9 per cent which comes out to Rs 12,996 crore,” a government spokesman said here on Wednesday.

The electronic and electrical products are in first and second slots in export while apparel is in the third place.

“Talking about growth, there was an increase of about 40 per cent in textiles and apparel exports compared to 2020-2021. This growth was more than the products of electronics and electrical and meat during the same period. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, logging such a staggering increase in exports is indeed remarkable,” he said.

The share of Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabad in the state's top 10 export cities is 41 per cent and 11 percent, respectively.

“The exporting apparel industry is also largely populated in these districts. Most of these are in the unplanned area. To provide them with all facilities in one place, the Yogi Adityanath government will develop an apparel park in Noida,” he said.

About 115 export-oriented units of readymade garments are targeted to be set up in this park.

According to an estimate, an investment of Rs 3,000 crore is expected to come. Soon the process will be started in this regard. The target is to lay the foundation stone in July and start commercial production in all the units by September 2025.

Apart from this, the government also plans to develop five textiles and apparel parks on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. For this, the tender process will be initiated after identifying the land by September next year. The target is to start production by 2026.

“In order to organise this industry, the government will set up factories in or around the cities where there is a rich tradition of readymade garments. In the first phase, Kanpur Nagar, Gorakhpur and Agra have been selected for this. Keeping in view the possibilities of the cluster approach, the government will also establish a textile industry as per the tradition of that area in the industrial corridors to be built along all the expressways. In the future, such clusters will be developed in each block under the National Handloom Development Programme at a cost of Rs.500 crore,” the official said.

He said there was also a plan to set up a world-class textile park at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore under the PM Mitra scheme. In order to make Uttar Pradesh a global textile hub through the new policy, best infrastructure, skill development of weavers and cluster approach, the government will also lay emphasis on the marketing of finished goods for Brand UP.

“In this sequence, the government will sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with big players of online platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon. Weavers will also be given training to onboard their products,” he said.