The Tirupur Exporter and Manufacturers Association (TEAMA) has urged the Union Government to constitute a committee to study the actual problems faced by the garment exporters here due to trade-related disparities vis-a-vis competitive countries.
TEAMA president M. P. Muthurathinam said the industry wanted is a holistic trade policy that could help the exporters here to compete with the garment exporters in countries like China, Bnagladesh and Vietnam on level playgrounds.
“Recent increase in duty drawback for cotton garments by 0.2 per cent and also the approval given for the interest stabilisation scheme were not going to significantly help the knitwear industry. Even the polyester-made apparels are enjoying 9.5 per cent duty drawback”, he said.
According to him, the government should increase the duty drawback rate for cotton garments from 7.7 per cent to 12 per cent.
Another major demand of the knitwear exporters is to get working capital and term loans at lower interests.
“The authorities should understand that the processing and labour charges are very high here when compared to countries like Bangladesh”, said Mr. Muthurathinam.
