Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met representatives of the textile industry in Chennai on Tuesday and had discussions for more than an hour on measures needed to revive the sector.
Prabhu Dhamodharan, convenor of Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), who took part in the meeting, said one of the common demands of the industry was structural changes for man-made fiber (MMF) sector. There was a need to remove the anti-dumping duty on MMF and rationalize GST for this segment. While India is competitive in the international market for several cotton products, it is not so for MMF products.
The industry should be able to tap opportunities in the global market in synthetic products.
Keeping that in mind Finance Ministry will be organizing a mega shopping festival across the country in four destinations, by March 2020. "It is a greater push for people to make contacts and connections", said Niramala Sitharaman.
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Here are top changes the Finance Ministry going to implement:
1. 50,000 crore revenue will be foregone with the introduction of remission of duties or taxes on export products
2. Existing Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) for textiles will continue up to December 31
3. Rs 36,000-68,000 crore of credit will be available for exports after priority sector lending tag
4. Leverage technology to reduce 'time of export' or 'turn-around time' and annual mega shopping festival by March 2020
5. Special free-trade area (FTA) utilization mission and online 'origin management system'