Textiles Ministry needs Rs 1,884 cr to clear subsidy dues

The Textiles Ministry requires an additional Rs 1,884 crore to clear the subsidy dues of 2009 under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS).

Under the TUFS, the government provides five per cent subsidy on purchase of capital goods and technology.

"To clear the subsidy till December 2009, we will be requiring additional amount of Rs 1,884 crore at revised estimates of 2009-10," Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran said at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of his Ministry yesterday.

Maran said a provision of Rs 2,890 crore has been made for disbursement under the scheme, while Rs 2,546 was released in the first week of August.

The ministry has disbursed Rs 66,275 crore under the scheme from the day of its inception on April 1, 1999 till June 30, 2009.

Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are the major beneficiaries of the scheme, as these states have potential textiles growth centres.

Maran further said the National Textile Corporation (NTC) has come out of the red and has drawn a plan to achieve a turnover of Rs 2,014 crore by 2014 from Rs 524 crore in 2008-09.

He said in coming days three modernised mills of NTC at Mumbai and 4 mills in Kerala at Trissur, Thiruvanthapuram and Kannur would be inaugurated.