The Ministry of Textile is likely to issue a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) next week about 'Technology Upgradation Fund' (TUF) to facilitate new textile sector investors, Textile Secretary Waqar Masood Khan said. While talking to Business Recorder here on Saturday, he said that the ministry has already completed the groundwork and in the next week it would issue the SRO about TUF.

In the Textile Policy 2009-14, it was announced that the government would contribute part of its investment financing, or part of the investment cost, through the TUF. Through this scheme, for capital intensive projects the government will pick up 50 percent of interest cost of new investment in plant and machinery, with a maximum of 5 percent mark-up.

For small investments, the government would contribute up to 20 percent of capital cost as grant. For this purpose, the government has kept a budget of Rs 1.6 billion in the current financial year. This will increase to Rs 17 billion by 2014.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010