Prompted by the success of the Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme (TUFS) for the textile sector in its previous regime, the government is now planning to extend the restructured TUFS into the 12th Plan period (2012-2017).
Originally, the restructured TUFS with a total subsidy cap of Rs 1,972 crore was to end on March 31, 2012. In the 12th Plan period, however, the government plans to allocate an overall Rs 15,404 crore spread across five years, almost double the Rs 8,000 crore originally approved for the 11th Five-Year plan.
TUFS, a subsidy scheme for setting up a state-of-the-art technology for the growth of textile industry, was introduced first in 1999 to catalyse investments in all the sub-sectors of the textile and jute industry, by way of five per cent interest reimbursement. The scheme was initially approved from April 1999 to March 31, 2004. Subsequently, it was extended in 2004 and again in 2007 with modifications. The scheme was discontinued on June 28, 2010.
Inaugurating an exhibition on technical textiles Technotex-2011 here on Thursday, the Union minister for commerce & industry and textiles, Anand Sharma, said, “The textile sector remains core to the Indian economy and the government is committed to its all-round development.” He said the emerging sector of technical textiles has been identified as one of the thrust areas of textiles development.
Investments under TUFS had gained notable momentum in the past three years. Since its inception 11 years ago, the government released a total subsidy to the tune of Rs 11,196 crore, of which Rs 8,883 crore was disbursed in the last three years. TUFS has catalysed investments of Rs 2,08,000 crore during its operational life span of 11 years.
Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles, geo-textiles, agro-textiles used for crop protection and protective clothing for fire fighters, bullet-proof jackets, space suits, etc.
“Four more Centres of Excellence for non-woven textiles will be set up, in addition to the existing four, to give a boost to production of technical textiles. One of them relating to sports textiles will be based in Mumbai.” said Sharma. These centres would be equipped with internationally accredited testing labs, training facilities for trainers and technicians from the industry, an IT-enabled information centre and other requisite support to the technical textile entrepreneurs.
To promote technical textiles in the country and to address the growth bottlenecks, the ministry of textiles has launched the Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT). Sharma said two new missions aimed at standardisation of testing laboratories and boosting marketing strength will be announced shortly.
The overall technical textiles sector in India is estimated to grow by 11 per cent to achieve a market size of $14.8 billion by 2012-13 from $9.9 billion in 2010-11. With the growth projection remaining optimistic, Sharma called upon the industry to invest in research, innovation and marketing efforts to put India on the world map, in the field of technical textiles.
Meanwhile, Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra, called upon the Centre to set up public sector venture capital fund to encourage entrepreneurs to explore new areas of technical textiles. Stressing the need to set up a new textile policy, Chavan said the state government is seriously considering the proposal in order to boost production of value-added products in the state. Currently, only 25 per cent of cotton grown in Maharashtra is processed within the state, while the rest is supplied to other states.
