Surat: Modernisation in the country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) sector will take a hit with the union ministry of textiles reducing the central fund allocation under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund (ATUFS) scheme for 2019-20.

According to the list of proposed budget allocation in the textile sector issued by the ministry, the ATUFS allocation has been slashed from Rs 2,300 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 700 crore in 2019-20.

Surat’s textile sector has been the largest beneficiary of the government subsidy with the annual investment in state-of-the-art machinery pegged at over Rs 3,000 crore.

Industry sources said that the reduction of ATUFS allocation will hamper the modernisation process in the sector. At present, the powerloom weavers have been shifting towards imported machineries for fabric weaving including water jet, air jet and jacquard machines for increasing productivity and saving costs.

In the proposed budget allocation, the textile ministry has decreased the overall budget of the textile sector from Rs 6,943 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 4,831 crore. Also, a special incentive has been given to the farmers for procuring cotton by Cotton Corporation under price support scheme worth Rs 2,000 crore in 2019-18, which was Rs 924 crore in 2018-19.

For the powerloom sector, the ministry has allocated Rs 150 crore for 2019-20, which was Rs 100 crore in 2018-19.

Chairman of the Federation of Indian Art Silk Weaving Industry (FIASWI), Bharat Gandhi said, “The allocation of Rs 700 crore under ATUFS for the entire country is a meagre amount. In order to boost the textile sector, government subsidy under ATUFS is needed.”

President of the Pandesara Weavers Association, Ashish Gujarati said, “Powerloom sector contributes about 65% of the total production of textiles in India. There are 28 lakh looms in the country and six lakh are installed in Surat. The powerloom allocation of Rs 160 crore will not help the industry in adopting newer technology.”

Published On : 26-11-2019

Source : Times of India