Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), on Monday, thanked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allot Rs.1,500 crore for the mills in Tamil Nadu under Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS).

This comes when the Association was considering cutting back one day production.

“The predominantly cotton- based textile industry has been facing several challenges during the recent period owing to higher tariff rates imposed on Indian textile products in all major international markets when compared to the competing nations, T. Rajkumar, Chairman, SIMA, said today.

Undue delay in disbursing TUFS subsidies, volatility and uncertainty in cotton prices, sudden glut in the synthetic yarn market, closure of dyeing units in Northern States resulted in accumulation of fabric stock in different power loom clusters, he said, adding that due to delay in disbursement of subsidy under TUFS for the last one year, textile mills in the State were pushed into acute financial crunch.

Currently, the spinning sector was having excess capacity to the tune of 10 per cent due to poor demand for yarn exports though there are improvements in the recent months resulting in accumulation of yarn stock and liquidity problems.

The undue delay in releasing the regular TUFS subsidy and denying the subsidy for over Rs.70,000 crore investments already made by the industry led to making several hundreds of textile units sick and resulting in job loss for several lakhs of people, he claimed.

Under these circumstances, the timely action of the CM deserved appreciation, Rajkumar said and expressed hope of getting TUF allocation with her support.