The textile and apparel industry is one of the earliest industries developed in India. Its entire value chain from fiber to apparel manufacturing has a strong presence within the country. It is the biggest employer after agriculture. In order to meet the skill gap in the industry and also to supplement its efforts initiated through the Special Package for Garments and Made-ups, the Government has approved the new scheme titled “Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)” for the entire value chain of textiles except Spinning and Weaving in the organized sector.

The ‘Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)’ shall be known by the name “समरमा (Samarth)”, signifying the broad objective of the scheme to skill the youth for gainful and sustainable employment in the textile sector. The main objectives of the Scheme are as follows;

• To provide demand driven, placement oriented National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant skilling programmes to incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textiles, excluding Spinning and Weaving
• To promote skilling and skill upgradation in the traditional sectors of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture and jute
• To enable provision of sustainable livelihood either by wage or self employment to all sections of the society across the country