New Delhi, Nov 28 (PTI) Garment exporters today demandedrestoration of duty drawback and Remission of State Levies(ROSL) rates to pre-GST levels, claiming that a whopping sixmillion jobs may be lost in the sector if urgent remedialmeasures were not taken.
India's apparel exporters are facing intense competitionfrom countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, owing tolower competitiveness.
"The average duty drawback that we were getting per-GSTwas 11.5 per cent and the Remission of State Levies (ROSL) wasan average of 3.5 per cent. Post GST, the average drawback hascome down from 11.5 per cent to 2.25 per cent.
"Last week, the government has been very magnanimous inincreasing the ROSL from the 0.39 per cent which was announcedin July to 1.7 per cent, but we are still short of the 3.7 percent which we were getting earlier," said Sudhir Sekhri,Chairman, Garment Exporters Association.
Addressing a press conference here, garment exportersalleged that the government was "making it difficult" for themto run their businesses and they had to incur additionalcompliance costs due to the "tardy implementation" of theGoods and Services Tax.
"We had a decline of 41 per cent in (garment exports) inOctober. There may be a 30 per cent decline in November.
April-October there is a downfall of 5.8 per cent. If thistrend continues, for the entire fiscal it could be 15-20 percent," said Vinod Dhawan, President of Apparel Exporters andManufacturers' Association.
Ready made garment exports dipped by about 40 per cent toUSD 829.44 million in October.
The garment exporters fear that 6 million jobs may belost in the sector, which is currently giving directemployment to 12.9 million people, going by the fall inexports.
The exporters also demanded speedy conclusion of a freetrade agreement with Europe for India to regain its exportcompetitiveness, as the industry had to pay 9.8 per cent dutyfor shipping to Europe.
Besides, the garment exporters demanded clarity on thee-wallet mechanism, full refund of blocked taxes and thatfabrics and other inputs be made available to the garmentindustry at lower rates.
The government last week announced the post-GST rates forclaiming rebate of state taxes under the scheme for ROSL onexports of readymade garments and made-ups.
It also doubled the rates for incentives under an exportpromotion scheme -- MEIS -- to 4 per cent for readymadegarments and made-ups.
IndiaÂ’s Apparel exports rose to USD 17.5 billion in 2016-17 from USD 16.8 billion in 2014-15. PTI RSN ADIMKJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.