The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new scheme for reimbursement of Cenvat on hank yarn which is the main raw material used in the handloom sector.
About 124 lakh handloom workers stand to gain Rs 118 crore for 2003-04 and Rs 300 crore for the new financial year because of this scheme, an official spokesman said today.
The Budget for 2002-03 had provided for an excise duty on plain reel cotton and cellulosic spun yarn packed in hank form at the rate of 8 per cent ad valorem and 16 per cent ad valorem respectively, at par with the excise duty on cone yarn. To prevent any hardship to the handloom sector due to the imposition of the excise duty, the reimbursement scheme was formulated, he said.
The CCEA also approved a total Tenth Plan outlay of Rs 535 crore for four ongoing centrally-sponsored schemes on livestock health and disease control. The four schemes are Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases, Professional Efficiency Development, National Project on Rinderpest Eradication and Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme.