The Centre will soon announce measures to boost exports of apparels and textiles which will be compliant with the World Trade Organization norms and help exporters meet competition from countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam.

“Our exporters of apparels and made-ups have been finding it difficult to compete with countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, which get zero-duty access to markets such as the EU. Over the last few months, we have held discussions with the Departments of Commerce and Revenue and we will shortly come up with some measures for the sector which would also be WTO-compliant,” Raghvendra Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Singh said ensuring that export schemes were WTO-compliant was an important issue now and the Ministry was working on the recommendations of the committees set up to examine WTO compatibility of schemes.

The Textiles Secretary, however, did not clarify on how long the popular Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), which is one of the five schemes challenged by the US at the WTO, will continue. The US wants India to do away with the scheme as the country had crossed the average per capita income level of $1,000 some time back and was no longer eligible to give export sops.

Singh also indicated that the Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) scheme could be expanded to increase the level of benefits to exporters. The RoSL does not flout global trade rules as it involves refund of taxes and levies paid by exporters and is not a subsidy.

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