Subsidy hike for shuttleless looms to be mooted

A recommendation will be made for increasing the subsidy for construction of modern workshed from the present maximum limit of Rs 80 per sq. ft to Rs 200 per sq ft for shuttleless looms, H S Das, additional textile commissioner, Government of India said.

Addressing the inaugural session of a seminar on 'Textile industry vision 2010 - strategies and preparedness', he said that the ministry was looking at redesigning the schemes in favour of shuttleless looms as there is a need for more modernised shuttleless looms and processing units in the country.

"There is a need to synergise and optimise our strength in textiles," he said. He added that powerloom sector would need an investment of Rs 25,000 crore by 2010 and around 90,000 shuttleless looms would be needed. The ministry will be presenting a policy, which will call for zonal divisions to provide the benefits to shuttleless looms.

"We want a loom to produce 1000 metre a day. We need one processing unit for 300 shuttleless looms and a good processing unit would need an investment of Rs 110 crore. There is a need for 300 processing units," he added.

A Elangovan, secretary - handlooms, handicrafts, textiles and khadi, government of Tamil Nadu, urged the Centre to look into the rules and regulations for the shuttleless loom as the prevailing norms were not encouraging.

He also sought the removal of benchmark value for the import of second hand looms as it was not benefiting the industry. "Unless we have the modern machinery, there is no question of competing with China and we should equip our industry with modern technology," he added.

Tamil Nadu's cloth production is projected at 27,000 million sq ft as against the present level of 11,500 million sq ft, which accounts for 27 per cent of the national figure. This will see 18 per cent annual growth rate in the next five years and would provide additional employment to 3 million people, he said.

The seminar was organised by Regional Office of the Textile Commissioner, Chennai jointly with Textiles Committee, Chennai , Apparels and Handlooms Exporters Association and Indo American Chamber of Commerce, Chennai.