Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has urged the government to exempt factories from lockdown and requested an “essential service” tag for the labour-intensive apparel export industry.
Due to Pandemic garment sector exports have dipped from Rs 20,000 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 15,000 crore in 2020-21 due to price hike of raw material and packaging item.
As well as it also has a diverse impact on employment as 20 percent of people employed in the sector have lost their jobs.
As per President of Nodia Apparel Export Cluster (NAEC), Lalit Thukral, the situation got worst due to COVID Lockdown in previous year. When the situation improved to some extent, it didn’t work as pre-COVID era. As a result, during 2020-21, apparel exports suffered over 25 percent loss as compared to previous year.
Further, Thukral added, the government has recently introduced Refund of Duties and Taxes in Export Product (RoDTEP) from 1st January 2021 which doesn’t apply to apparel sector. Due to RoDTEP our exporters are unable to quote the rates competitively to the importing countries.
“We have requested the government to factor the Refund of State and Centre Tax and Levies (RoSCTL) rates in RoDTEP and release it on priority basis to provide a level-playing field to exporters”, he further added.
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