The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has thanked the centre for announcing Interest Equalization Scheme by extending three per cent interest subvention for all the fabrics and made-ups under the scheme.
The inclusion of fabrics and large number of countries under two per cent MEIS export incentive scheme, enhanced duty drawback rates for value-added products, particularly garments and the approval of three per cent benefit under Interest Equalization Scheme would enable the Indian textiles and clothing industry improve the competitiveness in the international market, SIMA deputy chairman, P Nataraj said in a press release.
The measure is a strong foundation for enabling India to become a global leader and a right step to achieve the Prime Minister’s “Make in India” vision, he said.
India has the potential to reach a business size of over 300 billion US dollar by 2020 and create new jobs for over 100 million, if a level playing field is created in the globalized environment by making all the inputs including raw material are available on par with international prices, Nataraj said.
Indian textiles and clothing exports are struggling due to market access barrier as most of India’s competitors could conclude their FTAs with major textile markets and India could not compete in the open market because of higher duties. The slowdown in the major global markets has made the situation worse for the Indian textile industry. Under this scenario, the various export benefits announced recently have come as great boost for the textile industry that has been ‘ailing’ since April 2014, he said.
In separate letters to the Prime Minister, finance minister, commerce & industry minister and textiles minister, SIMA has appealed to them to conclude Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) expeditiously with various countries so that India can achieve its potential growth rate.
