Apparel Online India Magazine July 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 38

INDUSTRY LIVE
India to offer tariff concession on 3,142 items to APTA
C
ommitted to strengthening
the Asia-Pacific Trade
Agreement (APTA) process
through concessions, India
has announced to extend tariff
concession on 3,142 items to
Bangladesh, China, Lao PDR,
Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka.
The move came after 4th Round
of negotiations under APTA,
earlier known as the Bangkok
Agreement, which became
effective from 1 July 2018. This
was announced by the Commerce
Ministry in a statement.
APTA is a Preferential Trade
Agreement under which the basket
of items as well as extent of tariff
concessions are enlarged during
the trade negotiation rounds which
are launched from time to time.
Under the special and differential
treatment provisions of APTA,
the Least Developed Countries
(LDC) among member nations will
get greater concessions on 1,249
items with an average Margin of
Preference (MoP) of 81 per cent
on these items. Ministers of the
member countries signed the fourth
round of trade negotiations,
formally concluded during the
meeting of the APTA Ministerial
Council held in Bangkok on
13 January 2017.
APTA, which has been in place
since 1975, is an initiative under
the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and
Pacific (UN ESCAP) for trade
expansion through exchange
of tariff concessions among
developing country members of
the Asia-Pacific Region.
China recently
announced
concessions on
8,000 items under
APTA; however,
none of the Indian
textile products got
any relief.
“Not going abroad; looking for investors,” assures CMD
of debt-hit Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn
S
ocial media in the last few days
had been trending with news
that MP Agarwal, CMD, Shri
Lakshmi Cotsyn has run overseas
like other default businessmen,
deserting his business and the
country. However, in an exclusive
interview with Apparel Online,
Agarwal expressed surprise at
the news and assured that he has
no plans to run away, and is fully
committed to his country and
business. He has also lodged an
application with the Kanpur police
against miscreants who, through
social media, have raised a false
alarm that since the company
has a mounting bank loan of Rs.
3,972 crore, Agarwal is trying to
go abroad.
Producing home furnishing,
technical textile products and
working with famous retailers
and brands, Kanpur-based Shri
Lakshmi Cotsyn was once one
of the fastest growing textile
companies in India. However, from
past few years, its turnover has
been decreasing sharply.
Talking to Apparel Online,
Agarwal accepted that there is an
arrear of nearly Rs. 20 crore in
the payment of salary and wages,
while Rs. 50 crore is outstanding of
suppliers. But he added that every
month the company is releasing a
certain amount of the salary so that
both staff and workers can survive.
Currently using only 20 to 25 per
cent of total production capacity,
the company is actively looking for
investors to survive. “We earlier
offered banks Rs. 1,000 crore as an
investor was ready to support us,
but banks were asking for at least
Rs. 1,500 crore. Even, as of now,
we are in touch with 2-3 investors.
I can’t say for sure how the things
will shape in the near future, but
we are sincerely trying to get out
of this situation,” Agarwal said. He
further added that currently, the
company does not have working
capital at all while its TUF subsidy
of Rs. 170 crore is pending from
many years.
The question that everyone is
asking, is what went wrong with
the company and how things turned
into such bad shape? Replying to
the query, Agarwal said, “Initially
we were hit by the global slowdown
and the heavy increase in yarn
38 Apparel Online India | JULY 16-31, 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
Till last year, the company was actively participating in sourcing events
price, but the major setback came
after our flex fabric project did not
take off as expected. We were very
much positive about this project.
Continuous delay in funding and
final denial for the same was a big
disappointment for us.”
Though Agarwal refused to share
what kind of buyers are currently
working with the company still
he revealed, “Initially when
news spread about the company,
buyers met us and even visited
the factories which restored their
faith. We are confident that once we
will have improved condition, they
will again issue orders to us.” It is
worth mentioning here that Central
Bank of India, which is leading the
consortium of 16 banks that have
given loans to the company alone,
has Rs. 3,904 crore pending from
the company. Recently, The National
Company Law Tribunal has
admitted insolvency proceedings
against the company.