The government today said it has decided to continue the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) with an allocation of Rs 12,077 crore for the 12th Five-Year Plan.
"Yes.. The 12th Plan allocates Rs 12,077 crore for TUFS with focus on the weaving sector," Minister of Textiles Anand Sharma said when asked if the government has decided to continue with TUFS in the current plan.
As against the 11th Plan allocation of Rs 15,404 crore, an expenditure of Rs 12,383 crore was incurred, the minister said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
TUFS assistance of interest subvention or margin money is bank led and sectors like ginning and pressing, technical textiles or garmenting which desire to invest in technology upgradation get the requisite approval from the bank on its project proposal, he said.
The scheme, which was launched in 1999, has been one of the popular schemes among the textiles units. Segments like spinning, cotton ginning and pressing, garments and weaving are the ones that have been benefitted from the scheme.
Replying to another query, Sharma said, the government is not considering any proposal to make amendments in the Jute Packaging Materials Act, 1987.
He said the demand for jute bags in the current jute year 2012-13 far exceeds the supply committed by the jute mills. The jute year runs from July to June.
"The intended quantity for jute bags, as per the commitment by the jute mills, over the bags actually supplied by the mills (viz, backlog) stood at about 1.20 lakh bales as on November 30, 2012.
"And for the remaining period supplies committed by the mills fall-short by another 4 lakh bales over the required quantity projected by the food grain procurement agencies of the states," he said.
To ensure the protection of interest of jute growers, the government fixes the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the jute every year.
