Import Duty on Cotton, Synthetic Fabrics Increased

Heeding to the long pending demand of stakeholders in the textile industry, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India on Friday finally decided to increase the import and custom duties on man-made, synthetic and cotton fabrics and yarn of various categories.

According to an official notification released on Friday by Mohit Tewari, Under Secretary to the Government of India, a copy of which is available with ummid.com, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue has increased the import duty on Cotton Fabrics of various qualities from the existing 10% to 25%.

The Finance Ministry has also increased the Custom Duty on imports of Synthetic Woven Fabrics of various qualities, Other Woven Fabrics, Synthetic Filament Fabric, Artificial Filament Fabric and Artificial Woven Fabrics from the existing 10% to 25%.

The Finance Ministry has also increased the Custom Duty on imports of Syn Texturized Yarn, Artificial Texturized Yarn, Synthetic Yarn, PSF, VSF and Artificial Yarn from the existing 10% to 20%.

The Custom Duty on imports of Comber waste has been hiked from the existing 15% to 25% whereas that of Cotton Fiber has been revised to 25% from the existing 10%.

The revision in Custom Duty on the imports of Synthetic and Cotton Fabric is in line with the demand put forth by the stakeholders immediately after Smriti took over the charge as Union Textile Minister and also during various meetings she held with the industry representatives.

The demand to impose anti-dumping duty on imports of fabric from countries like China, Malaysia, Indonesia and SAARC countries were also raised when Smriti launched Power Tex India on April 01, 2017.

In writing and during verbal conversations with Smriti and officials of the Ministry of Textiles, industry representatives had explained at length how local textile manufacturers were finding it difficult to compete with countries like China because of low import duty.

The industry was shaken when after the imposition of Goods & Service Tax (GST) it was feared that locally manufactured fabrics will be costlier in comparison with the imported fabrics, and hence the demand to curb imports of fabrics was reiterated.

It is still to be seen what impact the latest revisions in duties will have on the ailing textile industry as the Finance Ministry while increasing the import duties on fabrics has also increased import duties on yarn.

The industry however is upbeat and hoped the revision will be a breather in the present scenario.

"Hike in the Import Duty of Synthetic and Cotton Fabric will surely protect the interests of weavers and help the domestic textile manufacturers", Narain Agarwal, Chairman Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), said while expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Aruln Jaitly, Minister of Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Textiles Smriti.