Apparel November 2019 Apparel November 2019 issue | Page 44

FEATURE
THE MOVES THAT MATTERED
The apparel industry has made much headway of late. Meera Warrier writes about some of the
important developments that took place in the industry in the last few months.
Over the course of a few months, the Union
Government has taken several steps towards the
strengthening of the apparel and textiles sector of
the country. This is through a series of initiatives
that have been announced by Hon’ble Minister of
Textiles Smriti Irani on various platforms.
In a recent announcement, she spoke about
the central government’s many key reforms such
as the relaxation of sections of the Income Tax
Act and incentives to boost the domestic market
for apparel, enabling it to compete with many
multinational brands.
“To encourage the domestic apparel sector to
compete with multinational brands, Government
announced key reforms under a Special Package
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I APPAREL I
November 2019
that includes additional incentives under the
Amended Technology Upgradation Fund (ATUFS),
relaxation of Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act
and introduction of fixed term employment for
the apparel sector. Under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar
Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), Government is
providing entire 12% of employer’s contribution
towards Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) and
Employee’s Pension Scheme (EPS). Further,
to make the apparel sector competitive,
Government is providing rebate of State and
Central taxes/levies embedded in manufacturing,”
a release by the Press Information Bureau (PIB),
which is said to have been given by Smriti
Irani, read.