Exhibitors expect a profitable International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) this year in the light of the Government's recently unveiled $5bn Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF), which was announced as part of the new textile policy. The Textile Ministry has launched TUF to make capital available for modernisation so that India's textile industry becomes internationally competitive in anticipation of quota protections ending in 2004. The Government has already received applications worth $2.4bn, and has sanctioned $0.9bn so far.