Power incentive scheme for small powerlooms

The Union Textile Ministry has recently announced Solar Energy Scheme for small powerloom units, on Grid Solar Photo Voltaic Plant (without battery backup) and Off Grid Solar Photo Voltaic Plant (with battery backup), where the Government will provide Rs 2.50 lakh subsidy per unit. This will help the unit to pay back bank loans within 3-4 years, after which the unit shall get practically free electricity, stated Textile Commissioner Dr Kavita Gupta, IAS.

Dr Kavita was speaking while inaugurating Buyer-Seller Meet (B2B) and Textile Exhibition organized by The Regional Office of the Textile Commissioner, Navi Mumbai on 26th November 2017. Dr Kavita Gupta further stated that Union Textile Ministry and State Government has announced several promotional schemes for powerloom textile industry but there is hardly any awareness to the schemes in the industry. The maximum benefit of these schemes has been taken by the entrepreneurs of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. There are 25 lakh powerlooms in the country out of which 50 per cent are in Maharashtra. There are 108 powerloom clusters in the country. There are 72 Textile parks.

Rahul Mehta, President – The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), who was the Guest of Honour, stated that apparel export for the year 2016-17 was $16.8 billion and the target for 2017-18 was 20 billion dollars. However, the export target for 2017-18 will not be attainable and likely to remain at the last year’s level. Recently, the government has raised the incentive rate from two per cent to four per cent for garments and made ups under Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS). In addition, the Government has also increased ROSL rates from 0.9 per cent to 1.6 per cent. However, duty drawback rates have ended on 30th September 2017 and new rates have not been announced. Supposing if duty drawback rates announced are around two to three per cent, the total incentive will be around eight per cent, which was 11.50 to 12 per cent earlier.

Purushottam Vanga, Chairman, Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) informed that CMAI & PDEXCIL havesigned an MOUfor mutual benefits. Under this MOU, they will jointly organise Buyer Seller Meet in Mumbai in January 2018. Dhiraj Kothari, President -Mumbai Textiles Merchants Mahajan has stated that the government should create a web portal and include the data of Buyer Seller Meet.