Aid for sugar mills likely in 10 days: Pawar

The government will announce monetary support for the beleaguered domestic sugar mills in the next 8-10 days to help them clear cane arrears to farmers, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said today.

"We are planning to provide monetary support to sugar mills on the condition that it is passed on to the farmers," Pawar said on the sidelines of a conference.

He said the group of ministers on sugar has forwarded to the Union Cabinet its recommendations on the incentives to be given to the industry, which is likely to take its final decision in 8-10 days.

Mills in the major sugarcane growing state of Uttar Pradesh have pending cane arrears of over Rs 1,900 crore. They have been seeking soft loans from the government to help them clear these dues.

Pawar said the government also plans to allow mills to produce ethanol directly from sugarcane to tide over the glut in the sugar industry.

Ethanol is currently produced from molasses, a by-product of sugar.