20-Dec-2017: Cabinet approves "Scheme for Capacity Building in Textiles Sector (SCBTS)"
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for a new skill development scheme covering the entire value chain of the textile sector excluding Spinning & Weaving in organized Sector, titled "Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)" from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs. 1300 crore. The scheme will have National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) compliant training courses with funding norms as per the Common Norms notified by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
The objectives of the scheme are to provide demand driven, placement oriented skilling programme to incentivize the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors; to promote skilling and skill up-gradation in the traditional sectors through respective Sectoral Divisions/organizations of Ministry of Textiles; and to provide livelihood to all sections of the society across the country.
The skilling programmes would be implemented through:
Textile Industry /Units in order to meet the in-house requirement of manpower;
Reputed training institutions relevant to textile sector having placement tie-ups with textile industry/ units; and
Institutions of Ministry of Textiles /State Governments having placement tie-ups with textile industry/units.
The scheme will broadly adopt the following strategy:
- Job role wise skilling targets will be based on skill gap identified for various levels i.e. Entry level courses, Up-skilling/ Re-skilling (supervisor, managerial training, advanced courses for adapting technology etc.), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), Training of Trainers, Entrepreneurship Development.
- Segment Wise/ Job role wise requirement of skill needs will be assessed from time to time in consultation with the industry.
- Web-based monitoring will be adopted for steering every aspect of implementation of the programme.
- Skilling requirement in the traditional sectors such as handlooms, handicrafts, jute, silk etc. will be considered as special projects through respective Sectoral Divisions/organizations. Skill upgradation will be supported further for entrepreneurial development through provision of MUDRA loans.
- With a view to make outcomes measurable, successful trainees will be assessed and certified by an accredited Assessment Agency.
- At least 70% of the certified trainees are to be placed in the wage employment. Post Placement tracking will be mandatory under the scheme.
- Acknowledging the high levels of employment of women in the sector post training, all partner institutions will be required to comply with the guidelines regarding Internal Complaints Committee to be constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013 to become eligible for funding under the scheme.
The scheme will be implemented for the benefit of all sections of the society across the country including rural, remote, LWE affected, North East, J&K by imparting skills in the identified job roles. Preference will be given to various social groups, SC, ST, differently abled, minorities and other vulnerable groups. Under previous scheme of skill development implemented by the Ministry of Textiles in the XII Plan period, more than 10 lakh people have been trained of which more than 70% were women. Considering that the apparel industry, a major segment to be covered under the scheme, employs majorly women (about 70%), the trend is likely to be continued in the new scheme.
10 lakh people are expected to be skilled and certified in various segments of Textile Sector through the scheme, out of which 1 lakh will be in traditional sectors.
Background: The Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) was introduced by Ministry of Textiles as a pilot scheme in the last two years of XI Five Year Plan with an outlay of Rs. 272 crore, including Rs. 229 crore as Government contribution with a physical target to train 2.56 lakh persons. The scheme was scaled up as main phase during the 12th FYP with an allocation of Rs. 1,900 crore to train 15 lakh persons. ISDS addresses the critical gap of skilled manpower in textile industry through industry-oriented training programmes. It is implemented through three components where major thrust is given to PPP mode where a forged partnership has been developed with the industry in establishing a demand driven skilling ecosystem. Under the scheme, so far a total of 10.84 lakh people have been provided skilling, out of which 10.12 lakh have been assessed and 8.05 lakh have been placed. The scheme has been largely aligned with the common norms of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
15-Dec-2017: Cabinet approves special package for employment generation in leather and footwear sector
The Union Cabinet has approved the special package for employment generation in leather and footwear sector. The package involves implementation of Central Sector Scheme "Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme" with an approved expenditure of Rs. 2600 Crore over the three financial years from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
Major Impact: The scheme would lead to development of infrastructure for the leather sector, address environment concerns specific to the leather sector, facilitate additional investments, employment generation and increase in production. Enhanced Tax incentive would attract large scale investments in the sector and reform in labour law in view of seasonal nature of the sector will support economies of scale.
The Special Package has the potential to generate 3.24 lakhs new jobs in 3 years and assist in formalization of 2 lakh jobs as cumulative impact in Footwear, Leather & Accessories Sector.
Details of the Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme:
Human Resource Development (HRD) sub-scheme: HRD sub-scheme proposes to provide assistance for Placement Linked Skill Development training to unemployed persons @ Rs. 15,000 per person, for skill up-gradation training to employed workers @ Rs. 5,000 per employee and for training of trainers @ Rs. 2 lakh per person. The placement of 75% of trained persons is proposed to be mandatory for availing assistance related to skill development training component. The proposal under this sub-scheme is to train/skill 4.32 lakh unemployed persons, upgrade the skills of 75,000 existing employees and train 150 master trainers during the three years with proposed outlay of Rs. 696 crore.
Integrated Development of Leather Sector (IDLS) sub-scheme: IDLS sub-scheme proposes to incentivize investment and manufacturing including job creation by providing backend investment grant/subsidy @ 30% of the cost of new Plant and Machinery to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and @ 20% of the cost of Plant and Machinery to other units for Modernization /technology upgradation in existing units and also for setting up of new units. The proposal under this sub-scheme is to incentivize 1000 units in Leather, Footwear and Accessories & Components sector during the three years with proposed outlay of Rs.425 crore.
Establishment of Institutional Facilities sub-scheme: The sub-scheme proposes to provide assistance to Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) for upgradation of some of the existing campuses of FDDI into "Centres of Excellence" and establishing 3 new fully equipped skill centres alongside the upcoming Mega Leather Clusters, based on project proposals, with proposed outlay of Rs.147 crore for the three years.
Mega Leather, Footwear and Accessories Cluster (MLFAC) sub-scheme: The MLFAC sub-scheme aims at providing infrastructure support to the Leather, Footwear and Accessories Sector by establishment of Mega Leather, Footwear and Accessories Cluster. Graded assistance is proposed to be provided upto 50% of the eligible project cost, excluding cost of land with maximum Government assistance being limited to Rs. 125 crore. The outlay of Rs 360 crore has been proposed to support 3-4 new MLFACs, for the three years.
Leather Technology, Innovation and Environmental Issues sub-scheme: Under this sub-scheme, assistance is proposed to be provided for upgradation/installation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) @ 70% of the project cost. The sub-scheme will also provide support to national level sectoral industry council/ association and support for preparation of vision document for Leather Footwear and Accessories Sector. The proposed outlay for this sub-scheme is Rs. 782 crore for the three years.
Promotion of Indian Brands in Leather, Footwear and Accessories Sector sub-scheme: Under this sub-scheme, the eligible units approved for Brand Promotion are proposed to be assisted. The Government assistance is proposed to be 50% of total project cost subject to a limit of Rs.3 crore for each brand, each year for 3 years. The proposal under this sub-scheme is to promote 10 Indian brands in the international market in three years with proposed outlay of Rs. 90 crore.
Additional Employment Incentive for Leather, Footwear and Accessories Sector sub-scheme: Under this scheme, it is proposed to provide the employers' contribution of 3.67% to Employees' Provident Fund for all new employees in Leather, Footwear and Accessories sector, enrolling in EPFO for first 3 years of their employment. The sub-scheme would be applicable to employees with salary upto Rs.15,000/-. The proposed outlay is Rs. 100 crore to assist in formalization of approximately 2,00,000 jobs in the sectors.
The special package also includes measures for simplification of labour laws and incentives for employment generation, as under:
Enhancing Scope of Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act: For providing deduction to Indian Company engaged in manufacture of goods in a factory towards additional wages paid for three years to new workman, the provisions of minimum 240 days employment in a year to a workman under Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act would be further relaxed to 150 days for Footwear, Leather & Accessories Sector considering the seasonal nature of this sector.
Introduction of fixed term employment: In order to attract large scale investments at global scale, the regulatory framework for labour related issues is proposed to be addressed by introduction of Fixed Term Employment under Sub Section (1) of section 15 of Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946 looking at the seasonal nature of Leather, Footwear and Accessories industry.
16-Nov-2017: India’s first mega Coastal Economic Zone to come up at JNPT in Maharashtra.
The government has given the go-ahead for setting up India’s first mega coastal economic zone (CEZ) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra as part of a plan to develop 14 such industrial clusters to spur manufacturing and generate jobs. About 45 companies across telecom, auto and IT sectors will soon bid for 200 hectares of land to set up manufacturing units in the zone.
The plan envisages a total investment of Rs 15,000 crore in the first phase and creation of more than 1.5 lakh jobs. The idea is to attract large firms interested in serving the export markets as they would bring with them technology, capital, good management and links to the world markets.
This in turn would help create an ecosystem around them in which productive small and medium firms would emerge and flourish. The Union Cabinet had last year approved setting up of 14 mega CEZs under the National Perspective Plan of the Sagarmala Programme, with an aim to promote development of industrial clusters around ports, encourage port led development, reduce logistics cost and time for movement of cargo, enhance global competitiveness of India’s manufacturing sector and create hubs of job creation.
These zones are expected to provide business-friendly ecosystem including ease of doing business, ease of exporting and importing, swift decisions on applications for environmental clearances, and speedy water and electricity connections. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port is among the busiest cargo ports in the country, but it has sufficient available land. That is why it has been chosen over other ports to kick-start the concept which was first mooted by the erstwhile NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya.
The port handles over 40% of India’s export-import volume because of deep-draft ports capable of accommodating very large and heavily loaded ships. CEZs are spatial economic regions comprising a group of coastal districts or districts with a strong linkage to ports in that region to tap into synergies with the planned industrial corridor projects. The country’s first mega CEZ will stretch along north Konkan region spread across Nashik, Thane, Mumbai, Pune and Raigarh.
The government’s plan envisages investment of $100 billion (about Rs 6.5 lakh crore) in industrial development for port-led economic growth in maritime sector and inland waterways, water transport, coastal and cruise shipping, and solar and wind energy generation to boost the country’s growth momentum considering India’s huge coastline of 7,500 km. The government hopes to add two percentage points to India’s GDP through creation of world-class infrastructure.