Union Budget 2019: Textiles, apparel industry allocation drops by 30 per cent

Chennai: The Budget allocation for textile sector and apparel sector has come down by around 30 per cent due to the discontinuation of ROSL scheme.

In the present Budget, the grant for textile and apparel is budgeted at Rs 4,831.48 crore, which is about 30.41 per cent lower than the previous year’s revised grant, said CITI Chairman, Sanjay K Jain.

“It is mainly because of discontinuation of ROSL scheme from March 7th 2019. The new scheme called Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) which was announced simultaneously will be issued through free transferable scrips,’ he said.

Meanwhile, SIMA found that allocation of Rs.700 crores for Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme was very much on the lower side as the total pending TUF subsidy under various TUF Schemes is amounting to around Rs 10,000 crores.

“Once the Ministry of Textiles conducts Joint Inspection and make the claims, adequate funds would be provided to enable the industry to mitigate the financial stress currently being faced. Out of Rs.17,822 crores fund allocated for TUF subsidy for the period 2017-2022, only around Rs 2,400 crore has been utilized and we have appealed to the government to expedite the release of subsidy,” said P Nataraj, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA).

However, the budget has increased allocation for a few other schemes. Highest grant is for Procurement of Cotton by Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) under Price Support Scheme which is 118 per cent higher than the last year and stands at Rs 2,017.57 crore. It also has maximum share of 42 per cent in overall grant for textiles. Grant for Integrated Wool Development Programme has been increased  to Rs 29 crore. There has been a slight increase of about 12.4 per cent in Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (A-TUFS) which is budgeted at Rs 700 crore.