The Hindu : Excise norms relaxed for powerloom sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 24, 2003

National

National

Excise norms relaxed for powerloom sector

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 23. Faced with countrywide protests by textile units and the consequent political pressure that came with it, the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, today announced some relaxations in procedural norms for the powerloom industry and also assured some specific relief to this sector which would be announced in the course of the debate on the Finance Bill 2003.

At an all-party meeting here, Mr. Singh announced that it would not be mandatory for manufacturers of excisable goods (yarns, fabrics and readymade garments) to obtain Central excise registration as a pre-condition.

Also, as a matter of facilitation, manufacturers in the textile sector would be allowed to pay Central excise duty without first obtaining the registration.

Thus, it would not be necessary to have this registration at the point of clearance of goods and the clearance documents, that is, the numbered invoice with date would be accepted as proper document to claim credit, the Finance Minister explained.

Those who attended the all-party meeting today included Pranab Mukherjee and Shivraj Patil (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Amar Singh (SP), Yerran Naidu (TDP), Somnath Chatterjee (CPIM) and Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Kirit Somaiya (BJP).

It was also clarified that there was no requirement of Central excise registration for selling yarn and fabrics in terms of Central excise law. A seller of yarn and fabrics (or any other goods) can freely sell goods to any person without the buyer being registered with the Central Excise Department.

The 2003-04 budget of Mr. Singh had brought powerloom weavers, hand processors and dealers of yarn and fabrics within the ambit of Central excise and this was explained as an objective of the Government to support and strengthen the textile trade and industry (particularly the powerloom sector) in consolidating its position to face the challenges of the post-WTO regime. .

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National