The textile industry to boost use of synthetic fibre demanded reduction in excise duty on all manmade fibres and filament from the existing 12 per cent to 6 per cent.
Reduction in excise duty in manmade fibre will lead to increase in demand. Globally, manmade fibre accounts for 70 per cent of the fibre consumption while in India; it is less than 30 percent.
In a pre-budget memorandum, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) to cover the revenue loss has recommended that the government should reduce the excise duty, it should introduce two percent mandatory excise duty on all value added products that are manmade fibre-based.
The duty reduction on raw materials such as PTA (purified terephthalic acid) and MEG (mono ethylene glycol) should follow as a logical sequence to avoid an inverted duty structure.
The memorandum demanded the customs duty on PTA and MEG should be brought down to zero per cent and that on polyester fibre and filament be increased to 10 per cent.
In India, the per capita consumption of manmade fibre is nearly three kg as against the world per capita rate is 8 kg, the memorandum said.