SRTEPC urges Govt to revise rates upward to arrest decline in exports

27 Sep '10

5 min read

The sharp reduction in the rates of Duty Drawback announced recently has come as a rude shock to exporters of man-made fibre textiles said Shri Ganesh Kumar Gupta, Chairman, The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) while addressing the Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on 27th September 2010 and urged the Government to revise the rates upward to arrest the decline in exports during the current financial year.

Shri Gupta added that the exporters were in fact expecting an increase in drawback rates in view of the hike in excise duty from 8% to 10% and the imposition of 5% Customs Duty on crude oil.

He also pointed out that for the first time in recent past exports of man-made fibre textiles have declined by almost 8% in the first four months (April-July) of the current financial year and amounted to only Rs.5071 crores.

According to Shri Gupta exports of Indian synthetic and rayon textiles had touched an all-time high of Rs.16,861 crores during 2009-10 registering a growth of nearly 7% compared to the previous year despite adverse global economic conditions, unprecedented competition from big players in the international markets, shrinking demand, high cost of inputs, etc.

The SRTEPC Chairman was of the view that there is immense potential for the Indian man-made textile sector globally and hence the vision of the Council is to capture over 4% (US$ 6.2 billion) by the year 2015 in the world man-made textile trade which is estimated to touch around US$ 155 billion by 2015.

Shri Gupta said that it has been the endeavour of the Council to give exports a boost by organizing promotional activities in many of the potential markets. The Council organized exclusive Indian Textile Exhibitions in countries such as Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Poland, Morocco, Tunisia, Argentina, Brazil, etc. which have tremendous demand for our products, he said.

Shri Gupta further informed that for the current year 2010-11 also the Council has identified markets such as UAE, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Syria, Jordan, Australia, Fiji, Peru, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina, etc. for holding exclusive Indian Textile Exhibitions. These promotional events would, he believed, give exports of man-made fibre textiles a further impetus and thus help in achieving the target of US$ 3.5 billion fixed for the year.

He also said that for the first time in recent years, the Council organized a Reverse Buyer Seller Meet- “Source India” on 28th & 29th January 2010 in Mumbai which attracted a large number of buyers from Middle East and Africa and resulted in substantial business orders.

Dwelling on the policy measures adopted by the Government, the SRTEPC Chairman said that the Annual Supplement 2010-11 to the Foreign Trade Policy has extended the DEPB Scheme beyond December 31, 2010 till June 30, 2011 which he felt was a positive step as the exporters operating under this most popular scheme can now take a long term perspective while negotiating export orders. He also welcomed the duty free import of specified trimmings, embellishments @ 3% on exports of polyester made-ups and hoped that it should be extended to all types of synthetic made-ups.

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