Due to a lack of interest from textile companies to upgrade their machinery and avail of subsidies from the government, the Industry Ministry in Indonesia has pulled back the scheme, which was first announced three years ago.
According to Mr Ansari Bukhari, Director General for Metal, Machinery, Textile and Miscellaneous Industries in the Ministry, the cost of manpower was higher in administrating the scheme, due to the low number of applicants.
However, he said, there is a similar scheme floated by the Directorate General for Small and Medium Industries, which provides soft loans to SMEs intending to replace their ageing machines with new technology and equipment.