Revised Tufs may apply to Jun '10-Apr '11 period too

The revamped Technological Upgradation Fund Scheme (Tufs) has received poor response this year. As a result, the textile ministry is likely to extend the revised Tufs to the ‘blackout period’, a top ministry official on Tuesday here said.

“We can consider going to the blackout period, subject to maintaining the same discipline as that of the revised one. So, going in that direction, probably if everything goes as we are planning, the revised Tufs coverage may be extended to the blackout period,” textile commissioner A B Joshi said here on the sidelines of Texpo, a buyers-sellers meet.

The blackout period for the industry is considered to be from June 2010 to April 2011. The government had suspended the modified Tufs in June 2010 and restored the revised Tufs in April 2011. No funding support was available to the industry during this period. “So far, only Rs 160 crore out of the total of Rs 1,972 crore has been subscribed,” Joshi said.

 

Expansion projects have been put on hold and the response has been poor. Also, demand from international markets is limited due to the current euro zone crisis and the economic uncertainties in the US, which have also affected the industry, as these are major markets for Indian textile exporters.

The textile ministry is hoping for at least Rs 400 crore worth claims by the end of the current financial year. Tufs was first introduced in 1999 and received an encouraging response. The total subsidy released was Rs 11,200 crore, of which Rs 8,883 crore was issued in the last three years. Tufs is estimated to have catalysed investments worth Rs 2,08,000 crore since its inception.