Centre to announce loan waiver scheme for weavers: Vaghela

Hyderabad, Jul 8 (UNI) Union Minister for Textiles Shankersinh Vaghela today said the Centre would announce loan waiver scheme for weavers, who were facing financial problems, in one or two months.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Vaghela said about Rs 800 crore to Rs 900 crore worth loan amount would be waived off as the new scheme would be implemented on the lines of recently-announced farmers' loan waiver scheme.

Stating that the finance ministry had already made obervations of a report submitted by the textile ministry, he said his ministry would send a final report to the finance ministry at the earliest.

Claiming that the last four years had been a defining period for the Indian textile industry, the minister said the estimated total investment between the financial year 2004 and 2007 was Rs 1.01 lakh crore.

The total cotton production during 2007-08 was 310 lakh bales, out of which one lakh bales was exported, registering 20 per cent increase in exports despite the price rise, he said.

The proposal for reduction in import duty on cotton was also under consideration as the industry was demanding it since last year, Mr Vaghela said. The country had occupied number one position in cotton, man-made carpets and silk production and exports, he added.

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