New Delhi: The Union Government has decided to defer the proposed increase of tax slab from 5% to 12% for textiles at the 46th meeting of GST council.
“This is a new year gift for the Textile Industry,”Union Minister for Textiles, Piyush Goyal said today and added that the requests of industry stakeholders was considered in present challenging times when the sector is on the path of recovery. He also expressed his gratitude to the textiles leaders who remain connected with the Ministry with all their grievances regarding raising the GST slab in Man Made Fibre (MMF) segment.
Talking about several transformational reforms to realise vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat & solidify India’s position on the global textiles map, the Minister said that step by step the textile ecosystem of the nation was being strengthened to fully utilise its competitive and comparative advantage. He said from weavers to women entrepreneurs, every segment has been empowered by these steps. He called upon the Textiles Industry Leaders to send suggestions for improving and developing the sector further.
Referring to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles, he said that PLI will increase the global footprint of India in MMF & Technical Textiles. He said Rs 10,683 crore scheme will create 7.5 lakh direct jobs. He said approval for 7 PM Mega Integrated Textile Region & Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks will attract cutting edge technology, investment & generate ~1 lakh direct and ~2 lakh indirect employment per park.
Goyal stated that continuation of Rebate of State & Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme up to March 2024 will boost export competitiveness. He said Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) for textile products other than apparel and Made Ups have been covered in RoSCTL. Removal of Anti Dumping Duty on several key raw material such as purified terephthalic acid (PTA), Viscose Staple Fibre, Acrylic, Nylon is a boost to man made fibre based textiles industry, he added.
The Minister mentioned that government is trying to get new markets for textiles through Free Trade Agreement (FTA). He informed that in all the ongoing negotiations with major countries like UK, UAE, Canada, EU, Australia there is a special focus on getting concessional duties for textile products. Talking about SAMARTH Scheme, the Minister said that 71 textile manufacturers, 10 industry associations, 13 state government agencies and 4 sectoral organisations on-boarded to help skill development and training of ~3.45 lakh beneficiaries. “Steps have been taken to on-board weavers on GeM platform to enable them to sell their products directly to Government, ~1.50 Lakh weavers on-boarded,” he added.
Under Concessional Credit/Weaver MUDRA Scheme, for financial assistance, Goyal said that margin money assistance @20% of loan amount, (maximum Rs. 25,000) per weaver and @ 20% of loan amount, (maximum Rs 20 lakh) per handloom organization is provided.
Goyal further informed that textiles export increased by 45%, to $16.7 billion in April-November 2021 with respect to same period in April-November 2019.
– global bihari bureau
