New Delhi: Union Minister Piyush Goyal has called for developing 100 Indian textile machinery champions recognized across the world and reducing import dependence of the sector through concerted efforts between the textile engineering industry and the government.

Goyal also asked textile machinery manufacturers to get out of the command-and-control mindset and work through plug-and-play to make the textile sector vibrant in name and spirit, the Textile Ministry said.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, made the remarks while interacting with textile machinery manufacturers in a video conference on Friday. A total of 15 textile machine manufacturers of foreign regions, 20 leading indigenous textile manufacturers, and seven textile machinery and associated industry associations participated and submitted their viewpoints.

The interaction was aimed at devising possible strategies to develop a facilitating ecosystem for the growth of the textiles engineering industry (TEI) in India under the Make in India programme.

He said that the National Capital Goods Policy is a manufacturing sector policy devised by the Government of India aimed at increasing the production of capital goods from the 2014-15 value of about $31 billion to $101 billion by 2025. Goyal urged the textile industry to focus on speed, skill, and scale, and get into an innovative partnership.

The minister further said India should look to become a global player in producing textiles machinery, producing at scale, producing with quality and quantity the machinery of choice that the world requires.

He said, "we are not averse to imports but we must reduce the import dependency of the textile machinery in India by concerted effort between the textile engineering industry and the government together". He added that focus on quality will help to capture bigger markets and higher productivity, the ministry stated.

Goyal expressed hope that a modern and upgraded textile machinery ecosystem would have a cascading impact on the unorganized Indian textile industry

This will set the momentum for continuous advancement and innovation resulting in ever-evolving and enhancing competitive capabilities along the value chain.

He said the machinery manufacturing facility will change the inertia of the status quo, augment the dynamics along the value chain and enhance the domestic consumption, and further boost the exports of higher value goods while gradually reducing the import dependency, the statement said