Rs.11 bn to be spent annually on textile tech upgrade

October 9th, 2009 Boy arrested in fire at 1800s Maine textile millLEWISTON, Maine — A 13-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed a historic textile mill overlooking a waterfall in Maine's second-largest city. Flames shot through the windows and licked through the roof of the vacant 60,000-square-foot Cowan Mill in Lewiston in July.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran will inaugurate the Gujarat Eco Textile Park setup under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) at Surat on Wednesday. The park has been set up in an area of 104 acres, at a cost of Rs.

August 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Wednesday said it expected investments of Rs.5,000 crore and employment of nearly three lakh in the technical textiles sector by 2012. "The segment has a potential to attract investments and create additional employment opportunities in the coming years, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters after launching a website -- www.technotex.gov.in -- that will meet the information needs of stakeholders.

August 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India has released 53.5 million dollars of subsidies to textile firms to upgrade their technology. This was disclosed by Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran while addressing a press conference here on Thursday.

August 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Though the overall economy has started showing signals of an early recovery, the country's textile sector, the second largest employment provider, is still struggling with the slowdown, an industry report said Monday. The report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said decline in textile exports and massive layoffs in the industry were still continuing.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's textile industry was hit hard by the global slowdown last year, with the handloom and powerloom production declining 3.8 and 3.2 percent respectively, a union minister said Wednesday. According to the provisional data available, production in the handloom sector in 2008-09 stood at 6,677 million square metres, as compared to 6,947 million square metres the year before, Minister of State for Textiles Panabaaka Lakshmi told the Rajya Sabha.

July 20th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government has sought a Rs.705-crore ($146-million) aid package from the World Bank to upgrade urban infrastructure in 10 townships, a senior government official said Monday. The official at the department of urban development said the amount, if sanctioned, would be used to upgrade infrastructure in the towns like Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Veraval so that these areas could attract more industrial investments.

July 16th, 2009 Fire engulfs historic textile mill in MaineLEWISTON, Maine — A roaring fire has swept through a historic textile mill overlooking a waterfall in Maine. Police Lt. Mark Cornelio says the vacant Cowan Mill was engulfed soon after the fire was reported Wednesday afternoon, with flames licking through its roof.

July 10th, 2009 MUMBAI - Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services, Friday said it has allotted 198.6 million shares to Venturebay Consultants, a Tech Mahindra arm. After this allotment, Tech Mahindra will hold about 43 percent in the company.

June 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government will provide health insurance to 150,000 weavers and open two textile parks, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran said Wednesday while unveiling the department's first 100 days' work agenda. "The textile sector is the second largest employer after agriculture and accounts for 13.5 percent of the total merchandise export earning and four percent of the GDP," said Maran.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The textile industry will regain lost ground to grow at 7-8 percent in the current fiscal, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran said here Friday. Industry is quite optimistic and I am also quite optimistic we will be able to achieve that growth, Maran told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government will exempt the slowdown-hit textile sector from service tax as part of its short-term strategy to bail out the industry, Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran said here Friday. As part of our short-term strategy for the textile industry, we will try to rationalise fiscal structure, exempt service tax, reduce interest rates on pre and post-shipment credit and facilitate faster clearance of arrears, Maran said here while releasing a report on the effects of the slowdown on the textile sector.

June 6th, 2009 BANGALORE - A decline in export orders has adversely affected the textile industry in Bangalore. Around 35 million people employed in the industry have been hit hard.

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel was on an overdrive Friday, flying to as many as five cities during the day to kickstart the upgrade and modernisation projects of their airports. If 8:30 a.m.

January 20th, 2009 SURAT - The Income Tax department continued search and seizure operations for the second day Wednesday, raiding 14 more textile units in this south Gujarat city to unearth unaccounted income. On Tuesday, the department had targeted 40 textile and paint manufacturing units.