Mumbai, Oct 12 (KNN) Textile Ministry will help upgradation of textile clusters in Malegaon and Nagpur in Maharashtra under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS).
The other pilot projects under the scheme are the textile clusters at Bhagalpur in Bihar, Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Sircilla in Andhra Pradesh and Tanda in Uttar Pradesh.
Under the TUFS, the Central Government promotes support for modernization of textiles industry in the form of interest reimbursement and capital subsidy.
The sectors benefiting are spinning, weaving, processing, technical textiles, jute, silk, garmenting, cotton ginning, wool and power looms.
TUFS was launched to speedup modernization of the Indian textile sector and besides the In-Situ Scheme, the central government has also launched a Revised Restructured TUFS, Textile Minister K S Rao said.
Rao was speaking at the inauguration of the 5th FICCI-TAG 2013 summit in Mumbai yesterday.
Rao also said that these schemes would incorporate the entire textile sector including spinning, silk reeling and twisting, wool scouring, combing and carpet industry, manufacture of viscose filament yarn and staple fibre, jute industry and others eligible under the 15 per cent capital subsidy.
Rao insisted that the textile industry should also set up its own research, development and training facilities along with support from the central and state governments.
The six selected SSI power loom clusters under the In-Situ Scheme were not covered under the TUFS benefit scheme and fell in the economically weaker and lower-end of power loom units.
The In-Situ Scheme and other measures will give a much-needed boost to the textile sector largely manned by the minority sections of society.
Rao also urged for the need to amend labour laws to permit 24 hours shifts and night shifts for women in the power loom sector on the lines of the IT and ITeS industries.
Under these schemes, with an additional allocation of Rs 11,952 crore under the 12th Five Year Plan, an investment of more than Rs 200,000 crore is expected, said Textiles Secretary Zohra Chatterji.
The state government will soon announce a new scheme and delink TUFS with state policy to provide more incentives to the textile industry and make it globally competitive, said Maharashtra's Principal Secretary, Textiles, Manoj Saunik.
