New Delhi: The textiles ministry has proposed duty cuts and regulatory easing to secure raw material supplies amid the West Asia crisis, including lowering import duty on rayon pulp and select cotton varieties and deferring anti-dumping duty on certain yarns.
The ministry, in talks with agriculture and finance ministries, has also sought removal of the minimum import price (MIP) on certain knitted fabrics as rising input costs and shipping disruptions threaten the industry's ability to meet production targets and remain competitive in global markets.
"Talks are going on with the agriculture ministry on lowering the customs duty. Some sections support elimination of the duty due to insufficient production in India, but farmer interest is of utmost importance," an official told ET.
The government is also encouraging the industry to explore East Asia markets after readymade garments exports fell 19% year-on-year in March amid West Asia disruptions.
The government had exempted cotton imports from the 11% import duty for four months last year till December 31 to protect them from the steep tariffs imposed by the US. Cotton imports are limited and largely confined to specialised varieties such as extra-long staple.
The cotton varieties are imported mostly from the US and Egypt while rayon pulp, which is subject to 5% import duty, comes from Europe.
Earlier this month, the government gave full customs duty exemption to 40 petrochemical products in view of the conflict in West Asia. Of these, 29 are used in the textile sector, especially manmade fibre.
The textiles ministry is also taking up with the finance ministry the issue of deferring or doing away with the proposed antidumping duties on elastomeric fibre yarn and viscose rayon filament yarn. These are imported from China and Singapore.
Source Name : Economic Times