By IANS,
New Delhi : The government will set up mega industrial clusters in five states to boost the traditional textile and carpet industries and generate “thousands of jobs”, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday.
Presenting the union budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said: “I propose to add one handloom mega cluster each in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu and one powerloom mega cluster in Rajasthan.”
He has also proposed to set up mega clusters for the carpet industry in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.
India’s merchandise exports fell last October for the first time in a decade, and missed the target of $200 billion set for 2008-09.
Exports grew by a mere 3.4 percent to $168.7 billion, from $163.1 billion in 2007-08.
This, the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) admitted, had resulted in the retrenchment of some 500,000 people, especially in sectors like gems and jewellery, handloom, and textiles, with the rising rupee further exacerbating the problems.