The Textile Ministry Wednesday released Rs 1.61 billion for its various on-going support schemes for the development of textile sector, as envisaged in the Textile Policy 2009. The Textile Ministry has already released Rs 4,825 out of original allocation of Rs 7.5 billion for the current fiscal year against various schemes envisaged in the textile policy (2009-14).
The ministry has released Rs 120 million for the Export Finance Mark-up Rate facility, Rs 1 billion for the drawback of local taxes and levies while Rs 490 million has been released for Magnetisation of PTA. However, no amount has been released against Mark-up Rate Support and refunds of past Research and Development (R&D) claims in the released amount, informed sources revealed to Business Recorder.
The government had announced Rs 42 billion for the last fiscal year, however due to financial constraint, only Rs 9.75 billion was released. Due to meager release against the promised amount, most of the initiatives announced in the textile policy (2009-14) have not been implemented, sources revealed.
The Ministry of Textile had issued three notifications for the implementation of the policy, under which textile manufacturers would receive three percent drawback on garments, two percent on home textile and one percent on fabrics. But due to inadequate funds the Ministry is facing problems in the policy implementation, sources added.
The ministry has sent a request to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to immediately disburse the released funds, adding that instructions regarding the release of remaining amount would also be issued later.
While announcing the release of funds, Federal Minister for Textile Industry, Rana M. Farooq Saeed Khan said that implementation of Textile Policy devised in 2009 would help in leading the textile sector in right direction, as it can be seen by the sustained growth in textile exports in the last two years.
The minister said this after announcing the release of funds to the tune of Rs 1.61 billion against various textile policy support schemes. Farooq also said that the timely release of funds proved to be helpful in supporting various textile initiatives, adding that ministry would keep on working sincerely for the sustained expansion and growth of the textile sector, he added.