Cabinet likely to consider incentives for sugar mills next week: Thomas

Pawar had earlier said govt may give mills $1.17 bn in interest-free loans

The cabinet is likely to consider providing incentives to beleaguered sugar mills next week, Food Minister K V Thomas told reporters on Wednesday.

Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said this month government was considering giving sugar mills as much as $1.17 billion in interest-free loans to help them pay cane growers, plus additional incentives to encourage them to produce raw sugar.

Mills started cane crushing almost a month behind schedule citing a freefall in sugar prices and rising rates of cane. The delay has halved the sugar output so far in the season beginning October.