Need for online monitoring of individual cases by banks stressed
The Union Minister of Textiles, Dr. K.S. Rao, recently held a meeting with the CMDs and General Managers of all the banks to discuss issues related to the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS). At the meeting, he expressed his concern over the delay in submission of subsidy claims as well as partial submission of claims.
Dr. Rao also shared concerns over the following issues:
1) As per the Government resolution on restructured TUFS (R-TUFS), the lending agencies are required to submit the subsidy claims by the 5th of the month of the following quarter. However, very few lending agencies submit the claims as per the specified date.
2) The claims are to be made along with the Utilization Certificate and the Claim Correctness Certificate. Generally, these certificates submitted by the lending agencies are not in order, which again results in delays in processing of claims.
3) There is considerable delay in submission of applications of Unique Identity Numbers (UIDs) under R-TUFS for pre-authorisation by the lending agencies. As a result, the industry is at the mercy of these agencies. There are many cases prior to March 31, 2012 pending with the lending agencies for UIDs which are not submitted by them within the stipulated time, namely, July 16, 2012. Earlier also, such instances were noticed in large numbers, which resulted in creation of List-II cases under the modified TUFS.
The banks were asked to give details of all pending claims, including those related to black out and other pending cases with them by the end of this month. The banks, on their part, agreed to address the issues of less staff, frequent transfers and poor training of those who deal with TUFS cases.
Dr. Rao also emphasised the need for online monitoring of all the TUFS cases by banks, and gave the assurance that no pendency regarding any issues pertaining to TUFS would be pending with his Ministry.
The prospects for growth of the textile sector in India are very bright and, after extensive meetings with the industry and exporters, the Minister is of the view that textile exports can be doubled. He called upon the banks to liberally fund investments in the sector to support growth.
Wool & carpet industry problems
At another meeting held by the Minister with the wool and carpet industry representatives to prepare a road map to increase woollen and carpet exports, a wide range of issues were discussed.
The major issues related to growth of the sector, like pasture farm for sheep grazing, feed supplement for sheep during the summer season, skill development training for carpet weaving and sheep husbandry, MAI/MDA issues, modernisation of woollen processing machineries, rationalisation of import duty on raw wool and woollen processing machineries as well as quarantine and recyclable (shoddy) shawl industry issues were also discussed.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Dr. Rao assured the industry representatives that the outstanding problems would be solved expeditiously.
The Minister of State for Textiles, Mrs. Panabaaka Lakshmi, the Secretary (Textiles), Mrs. Zohra Chatterjee, senior officers from the Ministry of Textiles, Chairmen of different Export Promotion Councils of Wool and Carpet sectors and representatives from different segments attended the session.