The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), on November 24, issued a notification placing restriction on import of Elastomerics. This decision is surely going to hurt the textile industry adversely as it has applications in a number of areas.
Elastomeric, popularly known as Spandex or Lycra, is not produced in India and thus textile and apparel manufacturers depend heavily on imports. Available statistics show that with in the period from April and June this year, India imported 254,033 kg of Elastomeric, worth Rs1 billion.
Mr Ravi Kumar, Deputy Director of Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), while speaking to Fibre2fashion.com, said, “Every one is asking the same question, 'why such restriction', as in very few companies are importing this product. Now importers will have to apply for license to import Elastomeric and that is a troublesome procedure.”
It is now expected that due to lack of spandex, there would be delay in delivery of export orders as it is used to manufacture stretchable fabrics for both domestic and export purposes.
Mr Ravi Kumar lastly stated that hopefully Government will remove the restriction in few months. Usually restriction is not kept on products which are not manufactured in country.
National synthetics, an importer of elastomeric yarn, and extensive user of the same, fears that this restriction would have an adverse effect on its trade.
Mr Gautam Gupta, Partner of the manufacturing firm, stressed, “This was an unnecessary step. Government cannot put a ban on products those are not manufactured in the country. We are importing Elastomeric from Korea, China, Singapore, and Thailand.”
Each month India imports approximately 300 to 400 ton of elastomerics, to which National synthetics' share is around 30 to 40 ton.
“Spandex is used to manufacture apparel with elastic properties mainly for sportswear and casual wear. These apparels are exported to various countries. Due to this decision our country will lose export orders. These orders will be taken way by Bangladesh and Srilankan exporters”, lamented Mr Gupta.
Spandex yarn comes in two types, Bare Spandex yarn and Composite Spandex yarn. Manufacturers from India import bare spandex. If restriction would have been on composite spandex yarn, effects on manufacturers would be almost nil.
“In blended fabric, composition of Spandex yarn is mere 2 to 5 percent and rest cotton is used. Manufacturer's requirement is of approximate 2 to 3 boxes only and this kind of yarns have a very short life span, so we cannot even store this product”, expressed Mr Gupta.
Due to sudden restriction on Elastomeric product manufacturers are going to face difficulty. Now they will not be able to handle export orders smoothly.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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