Textiles Min to raise imposition of excise duty with FinMin

The Textiles Ministry has said it will ask the Finance Ministry to review imposition of excise duty on branded garments and made-up textiles as the levy is "hurting" the industry.

"The excise duty is hurting the industry. We are assessing the situation. I will take it up with the Revenue Secretary (this month)," Textiles Secretary Rita Menon told PTI.

Menon said that the ministry has asked the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) to assess the impact of the duty on the industry.

In the third week of May CMAI is expected to submit a report to the ministry explaining the extent to which the excise duty would hurt the industry and "then I shall take it up with the Revenue Secretary (Suni Mitra) for a review," Menon said.

The government has imposed a 10% duty on branded garments and made-up textiles.

The Secretary said that "this (excise duty) is a pain for big and small manufacturers".

The Apparel Export Promotion Council also said the duty would severely impact units with higher requirements of outsourced processing and services like the knitwear industries or other value added garments.