New Delhi, Aug 11: Shri N K, Member, Planning Commission, presented third report of the Steering Group on Investment and Growth in textile industry to the Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. This report makes recommendations on the restructuring of the debt portfolio of the textile industry. The present report on debt restructuring has analysed that about Rs 10,000 crore of the total exposure of Rs 16,000 of the FIs to the textile sector in the form of term loan can be restructured to revive ailing textile units after assessing their debt servicing capacity. The main recommendation of the Steering Group is constitution of a Debt Restructuring Fund and incentives to restructure existing portfolios of the textile industry so as to reduce the rate of interest to around 8%.
For profit making units, the Steering Group has suggested a 10-year repayment period for fresh loans under Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme(TUFS). It is expected that the restructuring package is likely to benefit about 350 textile units out of a total of 500 textile units.
It may be recalled that the Finance Minister while presenting the Budget proposals for 2003-04 along with a textile package had announced that the Government was considering a mechanism for restructuring of debt portfolios for viable textile units to enable them to meet international competition. A separate package on assistance to accelerate the modernization of the powerloom sector will also be announced shortly. Bureau Report