Govt mulls upping subsidy on shuttleless looms

Chennai, Mar 9 (UNI) Union Additional Textile Commissioner H S Das today said he will recommend an increase in subsidy for setting up modernised worksheds for shuttleless loom units to enable the sector to become globally competitive.

In his keynote address at a seminar on 'Textile Industry Vision 2010 Strategies and Preparedness,' Mr Das said he will present redesign schemes on March 13 during which the proposal to take up modernised worksheds for shuttleless looms will be discussed.

The present subsidy of Rs 80 per sq ft will be enhanced to Rs 200 per sq ft for the modernised workshed.

The powerloom sector required an investment of Rs 25,000 crore by 2010 and he will present a policy that called for zonal divisions to enable a loom to produce 1,000 m a day. This called for good processing houses which required an investment of Rs 110 crore.

Exhorting the textile sector to ''compete fast and take quick decisions with a focused and directed approach,'' Mr Das said government schemes had benefited the industry and Rs 32,000 crore investments had come from the Techonology Upgradation Fund Scheme.

In his address, Tamil Nadu Handlooms, Handicraft, Textile and Khadi Department Secretary A Elangovan urged the Centre to take up the issue of benchmarking price of second hand powerlooms to bring a quantum jump in Indian exports, which was currently at three per cent.

He said powerloom cloth production was estimated to be 6,467 million sq m and the additional cloth production of 10,813 million sq m had to be increased over a five-year period.

The installation of 50,000 shuttleless looms in the state in a phased manner would meet the entire additional cloth requirement.

For this to happen, the benchmark price for second hand powerlooms had to be scrapped to make the industry competitive on a global plane.

Already with state initiatives, hi-tech shuttleless weaving parks were being established at a cost of Rs 324 crore at Andipatti, Palladam and Komarapalayam.

The seminar was being organised by Regional Textile Commissioner Office, Apparels and Handloom Exporters Association and the Indo American Chamber of Commerce.

UNI HV GM 1444