CHENNAI: Manufacturers of N95 masks in the country have urged the Centre to remove all export restrictions imposed on the product since they are losing export orders worth crores or rupees and have been unable to cash in on a massive business opportunity in the overseas markets.
Currently, the Centre has a fixed a monthly export limit of 1 crore N95 masks, but the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) claims that N95 manufacturers are facing difficulties due to oversupply.
“On an average, over 50 lakh N95 masks are being manufactured daily in India.
The textile hub in Tamil Nadu, Tirupur alone can manufacture over 3 Crore pieces of N95 masks monthly besides regular cotton/2/3 ply masks. On seeing the abundant supply from Tirupur and all over India, we urged the union commerce ministry to allow free export of N95 masks like other masks and PPE kits,” said A Sakthivel, chairman of AEPC.
If the export limitation is removed, he added, then India could see over Rs 3,000 crore in business annually. “We are not able to receive export orders, but globally the demand of N95 masks is rising with each passing day,” he said.
Extend moratorium
The AEPC has also requested finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to extend the moratorium on term loans up to March 31, 2021, considering the slowdown in business and the drastic fall in apparel exports.