Apparel Online India Magazine August 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 26

TEX-FILE THE LATEST NEWS HAVE YOUR SAY For the latest news on apparel and textile, make sure that you visit https://apparelresources.com/top-news/ Write to Apparel Resources, B-32, South Extension-1, New Delhi (110049), India or email: [email protected] Import duty on 328 textile products doubled Taking one more step for the domestic textile industry, the Government has doubled import duty on 328 textile products. A notification to this effect was tabled by Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan in the Lok Sabha. The notification seeks ‘to increase the customs duty on 328 tariff lines of textile products from the existing rate of 10 per cent to 20 per cent’. The Government expects that higher duty will help the industry, which employs nearly 10.5 crore people. The industry is facing a tough challenge from cheaper imports. Now, the problem is that India is bound to provide concessional tariff to the least developed countries such as Bangladesh, but there is no such bar on imports from China. This means higher duty will help curb cheaper imports from countries such as China. Also, since India cannot give any direct incentive to domestic manufacturing, (BCD) and hence Chinese fabric is easily coming to India duty-free through Bangladesh in the form of Garments. Until and unless Government intervenes and puts a Rule of Origin clause, imports from Bangladesh will keep coming at the same pace and would affect the fabric as well as other segments of the value chain. In the last one year, the imports of apparel from Bangladesh have increased 44 per cent from US $ 140 million in 2016-17 to US $ 201 million in 2017-18. hiking tariffs is the easily available option, which the Government has exercised now. The industry has still to do the detailed analysis of this decision, however, it is hopeful that revision in import duty has covered MMF Spun Yarn and MMF based fabrics as huge surge of imports have been witnessed in these categories post GST which is impacting yarn and fabric manufacturers in a big way. Sanjay K Jain, Chairman, CITI has welcomed this decision and thanked the Government for the same. The decision does not positively impact the issue of imports from Bangladesh where there is a full exemption of Basic Customs Duty Imports of textile yarn, fabric and made-up articles grew by 8.58 per cent to US $ 168.64 million in June. However, exports of cotton yarn/ fabric/ made-ups and handloom products grew by 24 per cent to US $ 986.2 million. Exports of man-made yarn/ fabric/ made- ups grew 8.45 per cent to US $ 403.4 million. Exports of all textile readymade garments dipped by 12.3 per cent to US $ 13.5 billion. Textile industry demands duty-free access to China The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has written to the Government to ask China to provide duty-free access for India’s cotton textiles to compete with rival countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and Cambodia. Absence of duty-free access to China has adversely impacted India’s business as compared to its rivals, explained CITI in its letter. Those who enjoy duty-free access to China have pushed India from being net exporter of textile and apparel products to the country during 2010-11 to 2013-14. Yarn, fabric and made-ups export from India to China attracts 3.5 per cent, 10 per cent and 14 per cent duty respectively. “Cotton yarn export from India declined by 53 per cent in 2017 as compared to 2013 while Vietnam witnessed 88 per cent increase in exports of cotton yarn 26 Apparel Online India | AUGUST 16-31, 2018 | www.apparelresources.com to China in the same period,” said Sanjay K Jain, Chairman, CITI. In view of trade deficit observed in 2017-18, CITI urged the Government to expedite talks with China for duty-free access of Indian cotton textiles in the country. India observed a trade deficit of US $ 1,543 million as India exported textile and apparel products worth US $ 1,362 while Chinese import stood at US $ 2,905 million in 2017-18. Markedly, CITI is the apex industry chamber representing all the sub-sectors of the textile sector with over 4,000 direct and indirect members.