Textile Sector Expresses Anxiety Over Reduced Funding

Industry news

Textile Sector Expresses Anxiety Over Reduced Funding

There is a marked reduction of Rs 1000 crore in the allocation for the textile sector in the interim budget. The revised estimate indicated in the 2018-19 figure places the allocation for textile and cotton sector at Rs 6,943 crore. The corresponding figure for the 2019-20 stands at Rs 5831 crore. The lower allocation figures in the reduction in slabs in schemes floated by the Ministry of Textiles, namely Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) and the Remission of State Levies. Allocation of funds for the year 2019-20 has been substantially reduced. Sanjay Jain, chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry expressed concern over the lowering of allocations and termed it as disappointing and worrisome. On the other hand, financial allocation for Cotton Corporation of India’s minimum support price operations has been hiked. Much of the benefits for this scheme depend on how cotton prices move. Besides, the payments slated for ATUFS industries are faced with a big sum of arrears. The arrears coupled with that of ROSL, and the reduction in slabs will present a severe drawback for the textile industry, opined Jain. Vice-Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council, A Sakthivel, expressed optimism stating the textile sector is anticipating reimbursement of embedded taxes with duty drawback and ROSL. He said the waters will turn clear as this is only an interim budget and there will be provision for meeting the textile sector’s demand within the next four months.