Having made its mark in readymade garment production, the Dollar City seems to have now turned its focus on jute product manufacturing. The city has of late groomed 20 persons to make at least 25 varieties of jute products. The 49-day training was offered by the National Jute Board (NJB) in collaboration with NIFT-TEA College of Knitwear Fashion.

According to NJB, Tirupur can easily contribute to the jute product manufacturing as it has already cemented its position in readymade garment export front. Industrialists too hope that jute products could help the dollar city achieve the projected annual target of Rs 1 lakh crore in exports.

NIFT-TEA College is one of the 20 collaborative agencies of NJB for taking Jute Integrated Development Scheme (JIDS) to the masses. The objective of the JIDS is to create awareness about jute products and increase the number of skilled workforce for production of jute diversified products.

Among the 20 trainees at NIFT-TEA College, most were housewives or unemployed women. As per N Viswanathan, Project Coordinator, skill development initiative, at NIFT-TEA College, they have been conducting training programs on different textile products for aspirants. Jute product training is one among them. Many areas in and around Tirupur could be developed as jute product cluster. Jute product manufacturing is likely to become popular as it has a huge export market.