Textile trade bodies slam new FTP

SIMA chairman T Rajkumar has appealed to the Prime Minister and Union Minister of State (independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry to have a relook on the FTP and consider the pleas made by the industry to regain its global competitiveness.  He said the country is plagued with high tariff barriers, high interest rates, high transaction cost and high import duties on raw materials and machinery preventing the industry from achieving its potential growth rate.

 

The new Foreign Trade Policy has come under fire from two major textile trade bodies. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry or CITI says #

Rajkumar pointed out that Cambodia has zero tariff access to European Union, China and US; Vietnam has zero tariff access to China; Pakistan has zero duty access in EU and zero duty for fabric in China; Bangladesh has zero duty access for fabric in EU and US; and Indonesia also has zero duty access for fabrics and made ups in China. On the other hand, Indian yarn, fabrics, and made ups and garments attract 4, 8 and 12 per cent duty respectively in EU while in China, the duties are 3.5 per cent for yarn, 10 per cent for fabric and 14 per cent for made ups and garments. In US market, Indian yarn attracts 7 per cent duty, fabrics and made ups 10 per cent duty and garments 17.5 per cent duty. Rajkumar said that fabric duty in China has been reduced to 5 per cent recently but with the aforesaid high tariff rates, India would still be in a disadvantageous position.

 

The new Foreign Trade Policy has come under fire from two major textile trade bodies. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry or CITI says #

Rajkumar has stated that the cotton textile industry, particularly spinning sector, has been reeling under a severe recession during the year 2014-2015 due to the drop in exports by 30-40 million kg of yarn/month and felt that with present banking norms, several thousands of small and medium textile units across the country, particularly South India would soon become NPAs in the absence of improvement in exports.

 

The new Foreign Trade Policy has come under fire from two major textile trade bodies. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry or CITI says #

The SIMA chairman also claimed that the 2 per cent duty scrip announced for mainstream cotton products alone and 5 per cent duty scrip for handloom, carpet and coir products under Merchandise Exports India Scheme will not help the Indian textile industry to achieve the targeted growth rate in the FTP. He has also stated that the industry has been demanding for 3 per cent interest subvention to manage high cost of funding which is affecting the labour and capital intensive industry.