Kerala - Alappuzha   

Coir Board launches loan scheme

ALAPPUZHA: The Coir Board on Saturday launched its Golden Fibre Plus scheme in Cherthala, near here. The scheme envisages modernisation of the coir industry through an augmented flow of credit to the workers.

Launching the scheme, which is implemented by the Board in association with the State Bank of Travancore (SBT) and the Kanjikuzhy panchayat, Coir Minister G. Sudhakaran said the State government also was making efforts to prop up the industry. Two training institutes for coir workers would soon be set up at Alappuzha and Chirayinkeezhu, he said.

Citing the complaints from small-scale manufacturers over the continued monopoly of the intermediary-exporter on the coir export sector, the Minister said that trade unions had a major role to play in settling the differences between the manufacturers and the exporters and in ensuring that the intermediaries were shunted out of the frame. The Golden Fibre Plus scheme, according to Coir Board chairman A.C. Jose, envisages loans of Rs.35,000 to each coir worker to construct spinning sheds and to procure raw material and equipment. The amount would be disbursed as agricultural term loans either to an individual or to a joint liability group comprising four to 10 workers. The period would be seven years and the rate of interest would be what was applicable for the self help group finance, which was around seven per cent.

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Coir Board launches loan scheme

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