Textile industry overlooked

COIMBATORE: The textile industry is upset that the Union Budget has no relief measures to overcome the crisis it faced.

Prem Malik, Chairman, Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council, said the allocation for the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), the Integrated Textile Park Scheme, and the cluster proposals were all investment-oriented. “If the industry is not doing well, investments will not come in,” he said.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry has also expressed its disappointment. According to a release from the confederation, reduction of customs and excise duties on fibres and capital goods, a mechanism to refund the State-level duties to exporters of labour-intensive products and a moratorium on repayment of principal amounts against term loans taken by the textile units would have helped revive the “crisis-ridden textiles and clothing industry.”

On the allocation of Rs. 1,090 crore for the TUF Scheme, the confederation Chairman, P. D. Patodia, said this amount would not be sufficient to service the existing TUFS loans, let alone new ones.

There was a backlog of over Rs. 600 crore from 2007-08 and the requirements for 2008-09 against existing loans would amount to another Rs. 1,100 crore.

At present, there was a delay of one year in disbursing TUFS assistance and with the “meagre allocation” made in the budget for the next financial year, the delay would only increase. Hence, the Centre should increase the TUFS allocation substantially, he said.

The Southern India Mills’ Association Chairman, K. V. Srinivasan, said the textile and clothing sector was overlooked in the budget.