Minister of Textiles and Commerce & Industry held an interactive meeting with the newly formed Textiles Advisory Group in Mumbai
Minister of Textiles and Commerce & Industry held an interactive meeting with the newly formed Textiles Advisory Group in Mumbai
Amid unprecedented rise in the prices of cotton and yarn in the current season, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has directed the officials concerned to “finalize the matter at the earliest” with regard to extension of the import duty waiver on cotton till December 31.
The government had last month waived all customs duty on import of cotton till September 30 to bring down the price of cotton in the public interest. The Minister of Textiles and Commerce & Industry held an interactive meeting with the newly formed Textiles Advisory Group in Mumbai on Saturday to resolve the issues related to augmenting the current supply of cotton and strengthening productivity.
In order to meet the current requirement, the Minister called for facilitating imports and resolving procedural requirements from destinations where stocks are available.
“Addressing the short-term growth outlook by imports, Textiles Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh urged the industry to approach the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for procedural requirements to enable imports from certain destinations,” an official statement said. advised.”
“With regard to extension of import duty exemption period up to 31st December, 2022, Shri Goyal directed the concerned authorities to finalize the matter at the earliest,” it said.
Suresh Kotak, Chairman, Textiles Advisory Group, emphasized the need to improve the seed system to ensure availability of seeds especially for sowing new early maturing varieties and to increase the productivity of Indian cotton from the current stagnation.
“The position on the availability of cotton has now come to the fore and three sources internationally were requested to help in logistics to ensure timely shipping,” the statement from the Ministry of Textiles said.
Kotak shared that as per the estimates of Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption, the carry over/closing stock is 41.27 lakh bales, which is approximately equal to 12.66% stock to use ratio and stock for 45 days consumption.
The mainly cotton-based textile industry is facing a long-standing slowdown on the cotton front as the price of cotton soared from ₹44,500 per candy in February 2021, when an 11% import duty was imposed on cotton, Which was ₹ 90,000 per candy. March 2022.
The sharp rise in cotton prices and its impact on yarn and fabric prices is seriously affecting the potential growth of the cotton textile value chain. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had notified exemption from customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess for import of cotton.
The notification came into effect from April 14, 2022 and will remain in force till September 30, 2022. Industries have been demanding removal of 5% Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and 5% Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on raw cotton. ,
Addressing the meeting, Shri Goyal called for addressing the factors affecting productivity in a time bound manner and the industry should participate in self-regulatory mode.
“The ginning segment should take responsibility and make pheromone trap techniques mandatory to monitor and prevent pink bollworm pest attack in cotton crops from ginning and oil extraction units to farmers’ fields,” the minister said.
He suggested that everyone should be sensitized for the mandatory use of pheromone trap technology through the extensive network of Cotton Corporation of India Limited along with the efforts of the State Governments.
Shri Goyal also emphasized on the need to protect the cotton crop from the attack of pink bollworm with the contribution of Cotton Corporation of India Limited, Cotton Association of India, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry and Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council.
Addressing the need for accuracy of data across the value chain to enable policy decisions, trade facilitation, traceability etc., Shri Goyal directed that the Cotton Association, Ginners as well as Confederation of Indian Textile Industry and Southern India A portal should be created with the inputs of Mills Association.
Portal to work on self-compliance mode. If persuasion and self-compliance do not yield results, can be made ‘disappointing’ in systems such as the Cotton Corporation of India Ltd., for not doing any transactions with such defaulters and linking any government benefits to the submission of details. Can go, the minister said.