The Indian apparel industry recently witnessed a massive drop of 41 per cent in exports to Rs. 5,398.08 crores (against Rs. 9,110.75 crores) in October 2017. The apparel exporters now seek something positive for the sector soon from the Government’s end.
The Garment exporters of the country met PK Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary, PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary and few other top officials to discuss the issues related to the sector. The meeting continued for more than half an hour.
Ashok Rajani, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) told Apparel Resources, “We asked the officials to extend the Rebate on State Levies (RoSL) Scheme, and not to revise the old duty drawback rates till March 31, 2018. The officials were quite receptive to our demands.”
On the matter of embedded and invisible taxes, the Government officials asked the apparel exporters to handover a detailed list to the Duty Drawback Committee.
Additionally, the official data issued states that India’s apparel exports in the April-October 2017 period remained Rs. 64,519 crores compared to Rs. 65,697 crores in the corresponding period of 2016.
Indian apparel exporters are already facing difficulties due to a heavy reduction in duty drawback which is adversely affecting their businesses.
The exporters are also concerned about their position in the global market as recently Pakistan announced incentives worth Rs. 180 billion to support exports.
A large portion of this package will aid the textile and apparel sector of Pakistan which will further increase the difficulties of the Indian garment export industry.