HYDERABAD: Terming the new Textile and Apparel Promotion policy "industry friendly," Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has invited entrepreneurs to set up units in Tada (Nellore) and Satyaveedu (Chittoor), close to Chennai, besides Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

Expressing his Government's keenness to establish new apparel export and textile parks to attract exporters, Dr. Reddy sought to allay fears of entrepreneurs about possible labour problems by stating that the Government was working on flexible labour laws to enable exporting units in Special Economic Zones to meet their deadlines.

Integrated parks

Addressing a two-day conference on `Textile forum - emerging opportunities - the road ahead' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Thursday, Dr. Reddy announced allotment of 10 acres each to three companies - Gokaldas Exports, Shahi Exports and Orient Craft - to set up separate units in IDA Nacharam that would create 9,000 jobs.

The Industrial Leasing and Financial Service (IL&FS) was asked to prepare a detailed report for setting up of Integrated Textile Parks in the State. Brandix Lanka Limited, Sri Lanka, was setting up export-oriented apparel city near Visakhapatnam to provide employment to 60,000 people by bringing in FDI to the tune of Rs, 2,500 crores. Labour Minister G. Vinod urged the textile industry to compete with China and create a market of its own.

Manikam Ramaswami, chairman, Loyal Textiles Mills Limited, said there were plenty of jobs but it was not possible to pay high wages.

A bottleneck

Sudhir Dhingra, chairman of Orient Craft Limited, said labour unrest was a major bottleneck and suggested that the garment industry be brought under the purview of ESMA.

Chairman of State Finance Corporation M. Gopalakrishna and M.K. Patodia, Chairman, CII (AP) and Managing Director, GTN Industries, hoped that the new textile policy would encourage more entrepreneurs to eye Andhra Pradesh.

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