Ashwin Chadran, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has thanked the Duty Drawback Committee and the Government for considering the inputs given by the textiles and clothing industry and enhancing the rates marginally across the value chain. Ashwin has stated that the Duty Drawback being a WTO-compatible export benefit, the scheme would help the exports to achieve a sustained growth rate provided the duty drawback calculation takes care of all incidences of duties and taxes.
The duty drawback rate for cotton grey yarn has been increased from 1.7% to 1.9%, for fabric from 1.6% to 2%, made-ups from 2.6% to 2.8%, apparel from 1.9% to 2.1%, thus encouraging value addition and benefit the predominantly cotton based spinning sector. Mr.Ashwin has stated that this might help to boost cotton yarn exports to a certain extent. He has appealed to the Government to remove the value cap for spandex yarn and certain categories of woven fabrics to encourage value addition.
SIMA Chief has added that it is essential to refund the State and Central levies that are not refunded under duty drawback calculations to make the cotton yarn and fabric exports competitive. He has said that the industry has been pleading the same from the inception of announcing Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) benefit for garments and made-ups. He has appealed to the Government to include cotton yarn and fabric under Rebate of State & Central Taxes and Levies Scheme (RoSCTL) to revive the spinning and weaving segments from the long drawn recession, utilize the surplus capacity, convert the surplus cotton into value added products and export and also create jobs for several lakhs of people.