TxC's Faulty Software Results In Huge TUFS Subsidy Cancellations

Trade & Policy

TxC's Faulty Software Results In Huge TUFS Subsidy Cancellations

“The software was not a part of policy and was faulty from the beginning. The form accepted mismatching figure of disbursement and repayment. Whatever may be the case our claim should not be denied because of this newly introduced software which was never a part of policy.” - Rohit Doshi, Director, Mahima Fibres Pvt. Ltd.

Mahima Fibres Pvt Ltd is just one of many companies which is staring at huge subsidy cancellations under TUFS, for no fault of theirs.

A faulty software introduced by the Textile Commissioner's (TxC) Office, as part of the government's digitalization campaign, has resulted in this state of affairs. Mahima Fibres had applied for a loan with a consortium of three banks - State Bank of India, Central Bank of India and Dena Bank. Says Rohit Doshi, Director, Mahima Fibres, "SBI was the lead bank and it calculated the TUF eligibility at Rs. 106.17 crore for the entire consortium.

A new software was introduced by Textile Commissioner's Office around July 2015. Till this time the entire documentation with TUF was in hard copy.

This software was faulty and when we first applied on 15th Oct. 2015, it did not have the option of consortium financing.

Later TxC office corrected some part of the software. We have full details of our email correspondence with them about the mistakes in the software."

However, the part correction did not help in the least. Explains Doshi, "This software was never the part of policy. All three bankers filled the software properly before January 12, 2016. Apart from asking all the details about the sanction, the software introduced a form to show disbursement and repayment schedule.

"SBI filled mismatching details in disbursement and repayment amount. This is impossible in any loan sanction. Still the software accepted mismatching repayment and disbursement schedule. Only and only because of this minor mistake on the part of the bank, our entire subsidy stands cancelled." Because of the above, the TxC's office sent the SBI application back to the banker for correction.

The banker filled the corrected form but it came after January 12, 2016. "All applications upto January 12, 2016 are given full subsidy. Therefore our other two bankers got the UID and subsidy but SBI did not receive the UID and therefore could not apply for subsidy. Whereas the entire subsidy amount was determined by SBI only.