Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), February 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday emphasized the critical role of three sectors—textiles, tourism, and technology—in driving India’s development. Speaking at the Madhya Pradesh Global Investor Summit in Bhopal, the Prime Minister noted that these sectors will generate millions of new jobs.
“Three sectors will play a crucial role in India’s development—textiles, tourism, and technology. These sectors will create crores of new jobs. If we look at textiles, India is the second-largest producer of cotton. India has a whole tradition related to textiles, with both skill and entrepreneurship,” PM Modi said.
Referring to Madhya Pradesh as the “cotton capital” of India, he mentioned that approximately “25 per cent of India’s organic cotton supply comes from Madhya Pradesh.”
India ranks as the sixth-largest textile and apparel exporter globally. The government has launched the National Technical Textiles Mission with a target to export USD 10 billion worth of technical textiles by 2025. This mission, which was introduced in 2020-21 with a financial outlay of Rs 1,480 crore, aims to position India as a global leader in technical textiles. Currently, India’s technical textile exports range between USD 2 billion and USD 3 billion.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the importance of water security for industrial growth, noting that the government is pushing for water conservation and promoting river interlinking. “For industrial development, water security is important. To achieve this, we are pushing water conservation and promoting the river interlinking mission. Agriculture is one of the biggest beneficiaries in this process,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister pointed to the launch of the Rs 45,000 crore Ken-Betwa River Linking Project, which is expected to increase agricultural productivity on 10 lakh hectares of land.
PM Modi also spoke about the recent Union Budget, particularly Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s decision to make income up to Rs 12 lakh tax-free to boost consumption in the country. “Our budget has come this month. In this budget, we have energized the growth of India. Our middle class is also the biggest tax payer. It also creates demand for services and manufacturing. In this budget, many steps have been taken to empower the middle class. We have made income up to Rs 12 lakh tax-free and restructured the tax slab. The budget also emphasizes building a local supply chain so that we can become completely self-dependent in manufacturing,” PM Modi said.