Textile schemes: Ministry gets Rs1bn from Finance Division

TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The Finance Division has released a billion rupees to the Textile Ministry for various schemes/incentives announced in the Textile Policy (2009-14), sources told Business Recorder on Friday.

The government released Rs660 million against drawbacks on local taxes and levies (DLTL) and Rs340 million against the Export Finance Scheme, sources added.

With this amount, the total release for the current fiscal year touched Rs6.3 billion against an allocation of Rs7.5 billion while total release for the implementation of textile policy amounted to Rs32 billion over the past three years.

The Textile Ministry on Friday sent a letter to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) informing about the allocation for various schemes, as the Bank has to release the amount.

Sources further said that because of financial constraints, the textile sector's pending liabilities against the government under various schemes announced in the Textile Policy swelled to more than Rs12 billion. This includes Rs10 billion under DLTL. Some textile mill owners have already moved the court against the government for outstanding liabilities.

Official sources sai that to meet stakeholders' pending liabilities, more than Rs20 billion had been disbursed to the industry in the last three years.

The Ministry of Textile is likely to get major share of Rs7.5 billion from the Export Promotion Fund worth Rs10 billion announced in the budget 2012-13, sources said.

Interestingly, the Ministry of Textile Industry had demanded Rs30 billion in the budget 2012-13 for the promotion of textile export. However, only Rs 7.5 billion were released to the Ministry.

The Ministry had demanded Rs35 billion in the budget 2011-12, but the government released Rs7.5 billion. However, up till now Rs6.3 billion had been released to the Textile Ministry. The remaining amount of Rs1.5 billion is expected to be released by the end of the current month.