NEW DELHI, June 24 (Reuters) - India will spend 11 billion rupees annually till 2012 to provide subsidies to textile mills upgrading their technology, the textiles minister said on Wednesday.
The Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme, which provides a 5 percent interest subsidy to firms, has been extended till March 31, 2012.
The government granted 13.5 billion rupees between April and December 2008 under the scheme and 43.7 billion rupees in 2007/08.
"The existing initiative of the ministry will be deepened to expand the coverage of its scheme to benefit the decentralised sector like powerloom and small scale sector in a comprehensive manner" Dayanidhi Maran told a news conference.
India's overseas textile sales, about 13 percent of all exports, have been hit by declining demand from key markets like the United States and Europe, as well as a firming rupee.
Growth in textile exports was flat in the year to March 2009 from a year ago, where it stood at $22 billion.
Maran, who was outlining his ministry's early agenda, also said he saw signs of an improving job market in the labour-intensive industry.
"There are indicators the market is slowly picking up (but) not very drastically," Maran said.
Source : REUTERS