Textiles minister Smriti Irani has spoken to Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandra Babu Naidu asking the state government to provide land and other facilities for setting up the mega textiles city, according to a Business Standard report.The proposed textile city would build a brand for Indian textiles, and thus boost the sector, which is the country’s second largest employer after agriculture.

Since China is considered a pioneer in setting up such mega textile cities, the textiles minister, along with Naidu and top officials from NITI Aayog, are expected to soon visit China to study the working and structure of the textile cities.The China Textile City in Keqiao district was set up in 1980s. It is spread over 3.65 million square metres of constructed area. It is home to 29,000 companies which together produce around 40,000 kinds of products.The Narendra Modi led government announced Rs 6,000 crore special package in June this year for the country’s garment and textile sector. This is expected to create 10 million new jobs in three years, and increase the number of people employed in the sector to over 40 million.The government is also working on a new national textiles policy, which aims to achieve $300 billion exports by 2024-25. The mega textiles city would be crucial for achieving this target.Last fiscal, India’s textile and apparel exports fell 2.4 per cent year-on-year to around $36 billion.