More than 100 textile mills shut down in over 3 years: Sharma

As many as 104 private and public sector textile mills have shut down since 2009 on account of financial and labour problems, the Parliament was informed today.

Referring to the Textiles Commissioner data, the Textiles Minister, Anand Sharma said, the number of closed cotton/man-made fibre textiles mills (non-SSI) was 104 from 2009-10 fiscal, up to December 2012.

“The major reason for closure of mills is financial problem. However, mills are also closed on account of labour problems and lock outs,” he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The government has set up the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), under Sick Industrial Companies Act, with a view to arranging the timely detection of sick and potentially sick companies.

Of the 104 closed mills, 34 textiles units were registered with BIFR as on December 31. The board had declared one case as no longer sick, while 11 cases have been declared sick, Sharma said.

To help loss-making mills the government last year approved a debt restructuring package, to be administered on a case-to-case basis by banks, within RBI’s prudential norms.

Replying to another query, Sharma said the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has procured 21.25 lakh bales (170 kg each) from farmers as on February 19, 2013 in Andhra Pradesh against arrivals of 46.49 lakh bales.

The CCI is mandated to conduct Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations with procurement of cotton from farmers.

The Textiles Ministry has issued directions to CCI for operationalising a staggered procurement plan with state governments to provide timely and remunerative prices to farmers.