The awareness about the government promotional scheme is very low and most of the advantage of the scheme is taken by the powerloom entrepreneurs of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, textile commissioner Dr Kavita Gupta said. In total there are 25 lakh powerlooms in the country, out of which 50 per cent are in Maharashtra.

Irani, recently announced Solar Energy Scheme for small powerloom units, where government will provide Rs. 2.50 lakh subsidy per unit. “This will help the unit to pay back bank loans within 3-4 years, after which the unit shall get free electricity,” Gupta at the Buyer-Seller Meet (B2B) and Textile Exhibition held in Mumbai said.

CMAI’s president Rahul Mehta at the meeting pointed out that the apparel export target for 2017-18 will not be attainable and is likely to remain at the last year’s level. The export for 2016-17 was 16.8 billion US Dollar and the target for 2017-18 was 20 billion US Dollar.

He said, “Recently, the government has raised the incentive rate from 2- 4 per cent for garments and made ups under Merchandised Exports From India Scheme (MEIS). In addition government has also increased ROSL rates from 0.9- 1.6 per cent.” Mehta added, “However, duty drawback rates have ended on September 30, 2017 and new rates have not been announced. Supposing if duty drawback rates announced are around 2-3 per cent, the total incentive will be around 8 per cent, which was 11.50-12 per cent earlier.”

– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel