Release pending rebate on state levies, says TEA president

: Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) Thursday appealed to the Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani to release the pending rebate on state levies (ROSL) to the garment sector.

The ROSL claims have not been cleared for the sector for the past three months, which are given to compensate the embedded taxes on petro products and electricity that were not included in the ambit of goods and services tax (GST), president of the association Raja M Shanugham said in a press statement here.

The garment export sector, after passing through a declining trend for the past one year, has made a turnaround only in October last, the release quoted Shanmugham as saying.

The pending ROSL claims for Tirupur cluster work out to Rs 105 crore and the settling of the claims would help the exporting units at a time when they were operating under wafer-thin margin, the release said.

Besides, the units were struggling to sustain themselves in the price-conscious global market and were competing against countries like the EU and US which enjoy duty-free status, the release said.

It was also a fact that the exporting units have been taking various measures to cut costs down to stay competitive in the world market, it said.