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MANGALORE, March 6

THE Centre is taking various measures to revamp the textiles sector, according to the Union Minister of State for Textiles, Mr V. Dhananjaya Kumar.

He was speaking to newspersons on Wednesday after inaugurating the first handloom expo in Mangalore which began on March 4.

The formal inauguration of the exhibition had been postponed due to the death of the Lok Sabha Speaker, G.M.C. Balayogi.

The show itself, however, has been informally on for the past two days. Mr Kumar said that apart from various measures to `modernise' the textiles sector as a whole, a series of concessions have also been given to the sector in the recent Union Budget. These are expected to prepare the country for the dismantling of the multi-fibre agreement by the end of 2004.

Stating that the handloom sector alone had registered export earnings of Rs 8,000 crore last year, Mr Kumar said that several concessions have been given to the sector in this year's Budget with a view to improve market access and increase export potential. Total Customs and Excise exemptions have also been announced for all machinery used by the textiles sector.

As for the `long-pending' Bangalore-Mangalore Railway gauge conversion work, the Minister said that the Rs 45-crore allocation made for the project in the Railway Budget was the highest allocation made for any single project during the current year.

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