Textile industry seeks lower duties, more funds for growth

Representatives from South Indian Mills Association met Textile Minister Santosh Gangwar and sought reduction in excise and import duties while pitching for higher fund allocation.
"It is essential to reduce the central excise duty on man-made fibre from 12 per cent to 6 per cent on par with cotton and also remove the 5 per cent import duty and 4 per cent special additional duty. This is to enable Indian textile industry to achieve a substantial growth rate in the markets of man-made textile products as this segment has not achieved any growth rate over a period," SIMA Chairman T Rajkumar said.

"The industry had demanded for an allocation of Rs 3,500 crore for the ongoing Technology Upgradation Funds scheme (TUFS) to meet the liabilities of the last three quarters of 2014-15 and also for the entire period of 2015-16. But the Union Budget has allocated only Rs 1,520 crore which may not meet the fund requirement for even 2014-15," Rajkumar said.
He added that the industry had also demanded an allocation
of Rs 3,000 crore to meet the pending cases under TUF scheme including committed liability, left out cases and blackout period with effect from 1st April 2007. This is to sustain financial viability of around Rs 65,000 crore investments already made by the industry.

According to Rajkumar who met Gangwar yesterday in this regard, the Textile Minister promised to take up the matter with the Ministry of Finance and ensured to allot adequate funds in due course.
The industry has also demanded 5 per cent interest subvention, reduction of margin money from 25 per cent to 10 per cent and increase the credit limit from 3 months to 9 months for the cotton working capital to bring stability in cotton prices. This would enhance the growth rate of cotton textile industry by 3 to 5 per cent and also ensure fair prices for the cotton farmers, it added.