Industry & Economy
-
Budget
States
-
West Bengal
Plywood cos to gain from excise duty cut
Badal Sanyal
Advertisement
|
|
Kolkata
Feb. 28
The reduction of excise duty from 16 per cent to eight per cent as proposed in the Union Budget will not only boost domestic plywood industry but also encourage farmers to go in for timber plantation for increased consumption of timber by plywood units.
Captains of plywood industry have hailed the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram's decision to consider plywood as an "agro-based" industry at par with the food processing sector.
Welcoming the excise duty reduction proposal, the President of Federation of Indian Plywood and Panel Industries (FIPPI), Mr S. Bhajanka, told Business Line that domestic plywood industry had been passing through a bad period in the wake of the Supreme Court 2001 order banning the use of forest wood by plywood units.
Because of the SC's order, the plywood industry had to face a serious raw material problem. As an alternative, the industry tried its best to source timber by persuading farmers to replace a portion of their agricultural land to replace from cash crop to timber plantation.
The FIPPI President, who is also Managing Director of Century Plywoods (I) Ltd, said because of inadequate availability of raw material from within the country, domestic plywood industry failed to register growth. Most units had to source imported timber. He said that the industry at present depended on 90 per cent of its timber requirement from domestic sources and 10 per cent from imports.
To augment output
He said that now with the Government's excise duty reduction, most plywood units were expected to augment their production. And in the process, there would be an increased demand for timber. This would subsequently encourage farmers to take up timber plantation in bigger area.
Mr Bhajanka said that the benefit of the excise reduction would be physically felt after five years when the timber crop from new plantation would be matured for cutting.
He felt that many States would now take interest in utilising their wasteland and degraded forest land for timber plantation.
More Stories on :
Budget |
Excise and Customs |
Interiors & Homes |
West Bengal
Article
E-Mail
::
Comment
::
Syndication
::
Printer Friendly Page
|
