Ludhiana: Apparel Exporters’ Promotion Council held a meeting here on Monday evening in which about 100 garment exporters from across the region participated.
Exporters underlined the grim scenario of readymade garment exports, which fell by more than 6% in November as compared to the previous year. The businessmen said it was due to the centre and the departments concerned ignoring garment exporters’ problems, including delay in the issuance of thousands of crore worth incentives of readymade garment exporters under the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies Scheme (ROSCTL) and Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). As a result, exporters were facing severe cash crunch and were not able to compete with the garment manufacturers of other countries who have various advantages, they added.
Commissioner of customs, Ludhiana, Arvinder Singh Ranga was the chief guest and the meeting was presided over by the council chairman, HKL Magu.
Magu said, “India’s apparel sector has been an important contributor to foreign exchange. Despite this, our industry is recording a decline for the past few months. November exports declining by about 7% is a huge setback. It is a concern that India is not able to capitalise on the opportunities available in the world market after the space vacated by China. This is largely due to the severe working capital crunch that the industry is facing due to non-receipt of ROSCTL and MEIS benefits. Over Rs 5,000 crore of reimbursements of exporters are pending with the government. We are continuously in discussion with the government for fast resolution of the problems, so that we can increase exports in the coming peak season. But a decent growth of readymade garment exports is possible only if policy benefits are passed on to the exporters in time.”
Harish Dua and Narinder Chugh, executive committee members of the council, said the government must act fast as time and money both were running out for readymade garment exporters. What was worse was that they were not been given their hard-earned incentives for months, they added.
Published On : 18-12-2019
Source : Times of India
