Mumbai, July 6 (IANS): In a bid to reduce imports of capital goods, the department of heavy industries at the Centre will fund projects worth Rs.1,000 crore under the Capital Goods Scheme, union Minister for Heavy Industry Anant Geete said on Monday.

Pointing out that technology gap between developed and developing countries in the capital goods sector was widening, the minister expressed concern over the increasing imports of capital goods in the country.

"Technological capabilities of a large number of players in India, especially in small and medium enterprises sector, are limited. As a result, India has become one of the largest importers of capital goods in the world, adversely affecting the indigenous capital goods industry. We want to change this now," Geete said.

He was speaking at the inaugural of a workshop on 'Technology Development for Capital Goods: Constraints and the Way Forward' jointly organised by the department of heavy industries and FICCI here.

Expressing his ministry's commitment to bring about 'achhe din', Geete urge the industry to avail of the benefits of the recently launched Capital Goods Scheme, which would help in acquiring or developing new technology.

Besides, he said the heavy industries department would also set up a 'Technology Adoption Fund' to promote research and development in the industrial sector, through which the government will support up to 25 percent of the cost of technology subject to a limit of Rs.10 crore.

This scheme is expected to be a boon for the industry in Maharashtra, which includes large number of engineering and capital goods clusters encompassing textiles machinery, machine tools, plastic machinery and engineering products.

The Capital Goods Scheme, launched under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative, provides support to the industry to acquire technology, set up technology development centres in collaboration with institutes and create common infrastructure for the capital goods industry.