One-time capital sop to update textile units

NEWDELHI: The government will provide a one-time capital subsidy of 10% to the textile processing units for upgrading their facilities.

“The subsidy will be over and above the concessional loan provided to the entire textile sector under Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) scheme. This scheme will be limited to processing units and will be available to the industry for only one year,� textiles minister Shankersinhg Vaghela said.

“The proposal is likely to be announced next month. The capital subsidy will be given to only those processing units which will install listed modern machinery. Our weakest link in textile chain is processing.

To modernise each processing unit, an investment of Rs 50-100 crore is needed,� textile secretary R Poornalingam added.

The ministry is also planning to merge Apparel Parks for Export (APE) and Textiles Centres Infrastructure Development (TCID) schemes. “Under TCID the government provides assistance of Rs 20 crore to each centre. By merging the two (schemes), the outlay for a single project can be enhanced to Rs 30-40 crore,� Mr Vaghela said.