24 Jan, 2013 - Apex apparel exports body Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Wednesday writes to Finance Minister & Commerce Minister on reducing customs duty to flat 5 percent on synthetic/ blended/ specialty fabric of cotton before budget announcement.
AEPC proposes for enhancing 100 percent garment exports in 3 years by reducing customs duty to flat 5 percent on Synthetic/ Blended/ Specialty fabric of cotton on Pilot basis with condition of restricting to 10 percent export performance performed & realized in preceding year by garment exporter on actual user basis from 2013-14 onwards.
Dr. A Sakthivel, Chairman AEPC in his letter to Finance Minister stated that, "the garment export industry congratulates and compliments to Union Finance Minister for steering the Indian economy to achieve impressive GDP growth rate." He further wrote that, the garment export industry deliberated on the issue of raising the exports of garments from USD 13.69 billion to USD 30 billion in the next three years. Non-availability of blended/ man-made fibre fabrics and specialty fabrics of cotton has been considered the single most important issue in augmenting exports of garments.
Such fabrics are not widely produced in India currently. The proposal envisages improvement in cut-to-ship ratio in fabrics, reduction in the lead time taken in the exports from 60 - 70 days to 35 - 40 days. The proposal is in line with the recommendations of Working Group to formulate National Fibre Policy and also aligns itself with long term custom tariff reduction signed by India through FTAs and regional co-operation agreements/ economic partnership agreements namely SAFTA, India- Thailand FTA, India-Singapore CECA, India â€" ASEAN CECA, India-Korea CEPA and India â€" Japan CEPA, etc.
With the implementation of this scheme, more domestic fabric manufacturers will come forward and shall start production of such fabrics. He also congratulates and compliments to Union Textile, Commerce and Industry Minister for steering our foreign trade by providing conducive policy provisions and by enlarging India's partnership through FTAs and various partnership Acts. (Source: SME Times News Bureau)