Mr. Manikam Ramaswamy, Chairman of the Cotton Textiles Export promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) has welcomed the Annual Supplement (2013-14) to the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2009-14 which was announced by the Government. He has stated that exports of cotton textiles which is currently growing at 8.5 per cent per annum will achieve a growth rate of 12 to 14 per cent in 2013-14 on account of the additional measures introduced in the Annual Supplement.
He said the extension of two per cent interest rate subvention to all textile products covered under Chapter 63 of the ITC(HS) Classification will certainly give a big boost to exports of made-up articles, especially home textiles, which are predominantly manufactured in the SME sector.
With regard to the promotional schemes, he has welcomed the inclusion of 126 new products, including textiles, under the Focus Product Scheme, 47 new products under the MLFPS and 53 more countries from Latin America and Africa under the Incremental Exports Incentivisation Scheme. “All these measures will encourage exports, especially in the context of an extremely difficult global economic condition and reduce our dependence on traditional markets of the US and Europe for our exports”.
Hitherto, any exporter who had availed of benefit under the TUF Scheme was ineligible for the zero duty EPCG Scheme. However, exporters who have availed of the TUF benefit can now operate under the zero duty EPCG Scheme. “This will encourage the much-needed modernization and capacity enhancement programme in the textiles sector”.
The Annual Supplement has introduced a system for online issue of registration certificate for export of cotton and cotton yarn. This will improve transparency, besides ensuring easy monitoring, according to Mr. Ramaswamy.
TEXPROCIL has appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Commerce, DGFT and senior officials for holding extensive consultations with all the stake-holders which has resulted in most of the proposals recommended by TEXPROCIL getting incorporated in the Annual Supplement.