
Spinning success: One-third of India’s textile business is in Tamil Nadu
The Hindu
‘Policies of successive governments have sustained the industry’
From saris and dhotis to bedspreads and kitchen towels, industries in Tamil Nadu make them all.
Boasting at least one-third of the textile business in the country, with 2,032 spinning mills (total mills in India: 3,542), 5.63 lakh powerlooms (India: 24.86 lakh), 1.55 lakh handlooms (India: 23.77 lakh), and nearly 15,000 garment units (close to one lakh units nationally), Tamil Nadu is regarded as numero uno in textiles and garments. It also supplies to global brands.
The journey started over a century ago when spinning mills came up in a few pockets in the State. Though cotton production has dwindled over the years, the industry has developed and the State now houses clusters of the entire textile value chain –spinning, weaving, processing, and garmenting.

When reporters brought to her notice the claim by villagers that the late maharaja of Mysore Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar had gifted the land to them, Pramoda Devi Wadiyar said she is not aware of the matter, but sought to assure people that no effort will be made to take back the land that had been gifted by the late maharaja.