Ministry-SIDBI project with Rs. 35-crore minimum corpus
Aiming to provide support to start-ups, the Textiles Ministry will launch the Tex-Venture Capital Fund with a minimum corpus of Rs. 35 crores in association with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
“The primary objective of the fund will be to make early and growth stage investments in small enterprises. These will be innovative enterprises in new and emerging fields in the textiles industry, including the powerloom sector and allied products & services. The Textiles Ministry and SIDBI are the initial contributors to the fund which is expected to commence with a minimum corpus of Rs. 35 crores, while the targeted fund size is Rs. 80 crores,” the SIDBI Deputy Managing Director, Mr. NK Maini, said.
SIDBI is the fund’s sponsor, and each investment will be limited to Rs. 3 crores. The funds will commence operation shortly, he added.
The Textiles Minister, Mr. Santosh Gangwar, who chaired the State Textiles Ministers’ Conference recently, said: “To provide equity to start-up entrepreneurs, we shall be launching a Tex-Venture Capital Fund in association with SIDBI. The fund shall be started with an initial capital of Rs. 35 crores and scaled up further.”
The Ministry also announced a new scheme to help the textile industry by providing environment-friendly processing technology. The Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) would set up new processing parks as well as support upgradation of the existing processing clusters, specifically in the area of water and waste water management.
Under the scheme, the Centre will provide financial support up to 50 per cent of the project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs. 75 crores in the case of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) units and Rs. 10 crores in the case of Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP).
The States will provide 25 per cent of the project cost and the remaining will be mobilised by the SPV. Besides, for boosting the sector’s infrastructure, the Ministry will also invite proposals for setting up integrated textile parks during the 12th Plan (2012-17).
“To develop world-class infrastructure for the textile industry, the Ministry has sanctioned proposals based on merit and would be releasing a fresh advertisement soon calling for proposals for sanctioning more integrated textile parks during the 12th Plan period.
“I invite proposals from the State Governments to enable the Government of India sanction textile park in each State. Under the Integrated Processing Development Scheme, we shall sanction common infrastructure for processing on the lines of the Scheme for Integrated Textiles Park (SITP), wherein the Government would be giving grant to the tune of Rs. 70 crores per processing park,” the Minister added.
A sum of Rs. 500 crores has been provided for this initiative. For both the schemes of SITP and processing parks, faster clearances in land, power, water, approach roads and environmental issues by the States is very crucial for the successful offtake of schemes.”
Mr. Gangwar also disclosed that to achieve synergy of handloom and handicraft with tourism, a plan has been worked out in consultation with the Ministry of Tourism. The State Chief Secretaries have been requested to identify traditional handloom weavers/handicraft artisans villages for development as “Adarsh Gram” as tourist destinations.