The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has requested the Government to reduce the excise duty on all man-made fibres and filaments, as also their raw materials from the current 12 per cent to 6 per cent.
In a pre-Budget memorandum 2015-16 submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, CITI chairman Prem Malik said, “Globally man-made fibres account for around 70 per cent of the total fibre consumption whereas in India their share is less than 30 per cent. If we have to achieve a quantum jump in production and exports of textiles, man-made fibres have to become more accessible and affordable.”
“We would therefore request that excise duty on all man-made fibres and filaments, as also their raw materials may be reduced from the current 12 per cent to 6 per cent. For covering the revenue loss from this reduction, 2 per cent mandatory excise duty may be introduced for all value added textile products based man-made fibres.” Malik suggested.
For all textile products other than man-made fibre based products, the optional duty regime for excise may be continued until introduction of GST, since this has been encouraging and facilitating substantial investments and expansion in the textiles industry, he added.
CITI also recommended that customs duty of 5 per cent and SAD of 4 per cent on all man-made fibres and filaments may be withdrawn and Anti Dumping Duties may not be operated on any man-made fibres or filaments.
“This would increase production of value added textile products substantially which will compensate for any revenue loss involved,” Malik said.
Currently, India has the largest number of looms in the world but the share of suhttleless looms, which use the latest technology in weaving, is at the lowest among the textile producing countries. Hence, CITI recommended withdrawal of 6 per cent excise duty being levied at present on shuttleless looms. According to Malik, such a step would help the weavers using plain looms to graduate into shuttleless looms, which in turn would improve both quality and quantity of fabric production. It would also help the domestic machinery manufacturers to invest in production of world-class looms.
