The Hindu Business Line : Ministry alive to garment exporters’ woes: Vaghela

The Government is alive to the problems being faced by the garment exporters in the wake of the appreciation of the rupee as this matter has been taken up with the Ministries of Commerce and Finance.

The Union Minister of Textiles, Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, said this here, while addressing the meeting of the Consultative Committee of Ministry of Textiles. Keeping in view the difficulties faced by the garment exporters, the Minister informed the members that the Government has revised the Duty Drawback and DEPB rates which would benefit the textile sector.

In addition, premium on export credit guarantee has been reduced by 10 per cent, rates of duty drawback enhanced by 10-40 per cent of the existing rates and the rate of interest on pre-shipment and post-shipment credit have been reduced by two per cent. The Government has also released about Rs 600 crore to clear all arrears of terminal excise duties and the Central Sales Tax reimbursement, the Minister added.

NTC mills rehab

On the Modified Rehabilitation Scheme of the NTC mills, the Minister informed the members that a schedule of implementation has been drawn up to modernise its 22 mills at the cost of about Rs 540 crore. He hoped that 13 mills of NTC would be completely modernised by March next year and the remaining by March 2009. After the modernisation, NTC is projected to produce 600 lakh kg of yarn and 250 lakh metre of cloth annually with a turnover of more than Rs 931 crore in 2009-10.

In addition, the BIFR has also approved the modernisation of 18 NTC mills through joint ventures. Out of these 18 mills, two mills at Coimbatore are likely to be dropped from the joint venture list due to improved performance and would be modernised by NTC itself. He further stated that efforts of the Government to move NTC towards profitability has started bearing fruit and the dependence of the company on the Government has come down to Rs 60 crore from Rs 300 crore annually.

During the discussions, the members raised several issues concerning modernisation of NTC mills and problems faced by the garment exporters in the wake of rupee appreciation vis-À-vis the dollar.

The Minister informed the members that the Government has revised the Duty Drawback and the DEPB rates which would benefit the textile sector.

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