The Hindu Business Line : TN: Powerloom weavers look to Jaswant for easing Cenvat

The stalemate in the weaving centres has, in turn, affected badly the cotton yarn off-take and industry sources say that it will take at least another week or so for the weaving centres to resume full operation.

COIMBATORE, April 28

FABRIC deliveries in key powerloom centres, especially grey fabric production centres, remains affected still with the powerloom weavers anxiously hoping to get some positive signals from the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, during the presentation of the Finance Bill on Tuesday on relaxing the `Cenvat' duty. Haunted by the uncertainties on the reliefs which Mr Jaswant Singh recently promised , weavers in major powerloom centres in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat are said to be still holding out their `stop production', though in several secondary weaving centres textile export-manufacturers owning their own looms have slowly resumed their production, the sources say.

Highly reliable sources told Business Line that the sale of fabric has practically come to a halt with cloth producers/traders not willing to undertake any transaction pending a solution to the issue of the excise registration and stock declaration, the crux of the on-going agitation against the extension of the `Cenvat' chain for weavers.

Most of the weavers in the key powerloom clusters of Erode, Tiruchengodu and a few weaving clusters in Salem which are involved in production of high valued goods are yet to resume weaving operations.

These weaving centres are dominated by the textile producer-traders who are opposed to the excise registration and stock declaration with the Central excise authorities.

In the meantime, the South India Textile Manufacturers Association (SITMA) has claimed that based on the Finance Minister's announcement on some specific relief to the powerloom industry, weavers across the country have started resuming their loom operations

The SITMA Chairman, Mr M.S. Mathivanan, has said that based on the powerloom industry representations, the Finance Minister has already announced some relief and now the industry can expect some more reliefs such as SSI benefits to powerloom producers and excise duty exemption on fabrics which are not going for further value-added production beyond weaving.

He said in a statement that while 90 per cent of the weavers come under the SSI/tiny sector, the remaining 10 per cent weavers would be coming into the excise net.

But these weavers too would get the duty credit for the duty paid on inputs such as yarn at processing stage. While many have welcomed this, only traders who do not want to come into duty net and who do not declare accounts on their purchases or sale are `misguiding' others and preventing their loom operations.

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