Dedicated TUFS cell in SBI urged

Coimbatore: To overcome the delay in releasing the five per cent interest subsidy on term loans, the office of the Textile Commissioner has suggested that State Bank of India have a dedicated Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) cell for quick processing reimbursement claims.

Among the major banks and other financial institutions co-opted for extending term loans under the scheme, SBI stands next to the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) in terms of the largest number of loans sanctioned.

But SBI is among the few banks whose outstanding TUFS interest claims are yet to be cleared as they are yet to give the details on the loans needed for reimbursement, according to Ms Sashi Singh, Joint Textile Commissioner, Mumbai, who handles TUFS operations.

While there has been no difficulty with regard to reimbursement of the interest subsidy for many banks, including the IDBI which has a dedicated TUFS cell, SBI, according to Ms Singh, is yet to provide the data and, therefore, the bank's interest subsidy outstanding running to about Rs 195 crore could not be released.

SBI's interest reimbursement claims are pending since January this year.

Participating in an interactive session on TUFS, organised under the aegis of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) here, Ms Singh was responding to queries from the members of the textile industry.

Funds released


Though there had been funds constraints in releasing the TUFS interest subsidy, the Central Government had recently released to the Ministry of Textiles Rs 300 crore for the subsidy reimbursement.

'With this, we expect the subsidy due for the April-June quarter will be released for all banks, except the SBI, within the next 10-15 days,' Ms Singh said.