Government disburses Rs 2,151 crore during 2012-13 under TUFS

NEW DELHI: The Textiles Ministry has disbursed Rs 2,151 crore of the Rs 2,323 crore fund allocation under Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme( TUFS) for 2012-13, Parliament was informed today.

Out of the funds allocation of Rs 2,323 crore, Rs 2,151 crore has been disbursed, under TUFS, in 2012-13, Minister of State for Textiles Panabaaka Lakshmi said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

During 2011-12, the fund allocation for the scheme was Rs 3,700 crore and disbursement was Rs 2,937 crore, she added.

TUFS, which has been in operation since 1999, facilitates the modernisation and upgradation of textiles industry by providing credit at reduced rates to entrepreneurs both in the organised and the unorganised sector in the textiles industry.

"Thrust areas of the scheme are modernisation of spinning, weaving, processing, technical textiles and garmenting segments, which have great potential for employment generation as well as value-addition," Lakshmi said.

Replying to another query, the Minister said, there has been reduction over the years in the number of handlooms.

Referring to the Handloom Census of 1995-96, she said, the total looms were 34.87 lakh weavers, during 2009-10 their numbers were reduced to 23.77 lakh.

"This is primarily due to the reason that handloom sector as a whole is facing many constraints throughout the country such as low productivity, stiff competition from powerloom and mill sector, inadequate input supply and marketing facilities as well as insufficient credit flow from institutional sources," the minister added.