Ministries of power and textiles today jointly announced a new scheme SAATHI under which Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will provide energy efficient power loom equipment to small and medium units at no upfront cost. <br/><br/>The use of the efficient equipment would result in energy and cost savings to the unit owner and he will repay in instalments to EESL over a 4 to 5 year period. <br/><br/>The SAATHI initiative of the government will be jointly implemented by EESL and the office of the Textile Commissioner on a pan-India basis. <br/><br/>Textile Ministry said, EESL will procure energy efficient powerlooms, motors and rapier kits in bulk and provide them to the small and medium power loom units. <br/><br/>The power loom sector in the country is predominantly an unorganised sector and has a large number of micro and small units which produce 57 per cent of the total cloth in the country. <br/><br/>There are over 24 lakh power loom units in India, most of which use obsolete technology.