Garment exporters in Tirupur knitwear cluster say that they will double knitwear garment exports from the country in three years if certain issues affecting the growth of the sector are addressed by the Government without delay.

In its pre-budget memorandum to the Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence Arun Jaitley, Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) has appealed for reduction in customs duty on import of synthetic/blended and speciality cotton fabric, simplification of advance licence scheme procedures particularly for SME exporters, withdrawing the excise duty levy on manmade fibre, exempting the levy of service tax on ECGC premium and introduction of Goods and Service Tax, among others to enhance the competitiveness of the sector.

There is good scope for increasing our global market share from the current level of 2.6 per cent by exporting value added and synthetic products. Exports from Tirupur accounted for 45.3 per cent of India’s total knitwear exports in 2013–14, said TEA President, A Sakthivel. And for this to increase, the Government should reduce the customs duty on import of synthetic/ blended fabric, as volumes of such fabric is not available in the country. To tackle this, the Government could consider issuance of Duty Credit Scrip to offset customs duty on import of speciality fabrics at 5 per cent of the export performance in the immediately preceding year on actual user basis, suggests Sakthivel.

On Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, he said an early agreement would help increase the knitwear exporters’ market share in the EU. “Bangladesh is enjoying duty-free status. Their exports have reached $22 billion against India’s $15 billion,” said Sakthivel.

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