Post-GST rates of RoSL are up to a maximum of 1.70 per cent for cotton garments, 1.25 per cent for MMF, silk and woollen garments and 1.48 per cent for apparel of blends. Rates are up to a maximum of 2.20 per cent for cotton madeups, 1.40 per cent for MMF and silk madeups and 1.80 per cent for madeups of blends. For sacks and bags made of jute, the rate is 0.60 per cent. The RoSL rate for garments under AA-AIR combination is 0.66 per cent, an official notification said.

The new RoSL rates shall be effective from October 1, 2017.

Notification of post-GST RoSL rates for rebate of state levies/taxes is in pursuance of the decision of Government of India to boost exports and employment generation in the labour-intensive textiles and apparel sector. The notification is in supersession of ministry of textiles notification no 14/26/2016-IT dated September 28, 2017.

This follows the Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s (DGFT) announcement of enhancing the rates under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) from 2 per cent to 4 per cent on readymade garments and madeups, applicable from November 1, 2017 till June 30, 2018.

“Both these measures are expected to boost the exports of garments and made-ups from India,” the ministry of textiles said.

Welcoming the decision, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) chairman Sanjay K Jain said, “The move will boost the garment exporters to accept bigger orders from the global buyers which they were unable to accept due to competitiveness reducing in wake of reduction in drawback and RoSL rates post-GST.”

“The industry was expecting at least 2 per cent to 3 per cent increase in the RoSL rates considering the various embedded/blocked taxes of Central and state levies,” P Nataraj, chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) said in a press release.

He stated that the Drawback and RoSL rates notified by the Government after the implementation of the GST are only interim relief as these benefits have not considered various embedded taxes and also inverted duty on fabric stage. He appealed to the Government to announce the new rates of Duty Drawback without any further delay giving effect from October 1, 2017 so that the financial stress caused to the exporters could be minimised during this critical juncture. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India