Indian Cotton Mills' Federation Recommendations

摘要

In its pro-Budget memorandum, the Indian Cotton Mills' Federation has noted that the rationalisation of the excise duty structure for the textile sector had been initiated in the Central Budget for 2001-02 and the process had been taken substantially forward in the Budget for 2002-03. However, the task remained incomplete with gaps in the Cenvat chain, exemptions, multiple duty rates and procedural complications continuing to apply to different segments of the industry. The serious attempt made in the Budget for 2002-03 to remove the sectoral disparities in the excise duty structure had helped to considerably improve the performance of all sectors of the industry. As a result, the declining trend in textile exports noticed in 2001 had been arrested and growth in imports had come down substantially. Demand and prices for textile products in the domestic market had also shown positive growth in recent months. According to ICMF, the removal of sectoral disparities had indeed resulted in the overall improvement of the industry without any adverse impact on any segment. For example, the removal of excise exemption on hank yarn had not led to any shortage of hank yarn or increase in its price; the small-scale independent processors had not been hit by the removal of stenter duty; and the reduction of duty rates had not led to any decline in revenue collection of the Government from the textile sector. On the other hand, the covering of new segments and improved compliance had helped increase the revenue collections quite substantially. The ICMF has stressed that the completion of the process of rationalisation would therefore lead to still higher revenue collection and encourage the industry segments to concentrate on their areas of strength and perform better.