The Government is aware of the problems being faced by the garment exporters in the wake of the appreciation of the rupee. The Ministry of Textiles has taken up the matter with the Ministries of Commerce and Finance. This was stated by the Minister of Textiles, Shri Shankersinh Vaghela while addressing the meeting of the Consultative Committee of Ministry of Textiles, here today. Keeping in view the difficulties faced by the garment exporters, the Minister informed the members that the Government has revised the Duty Drawback and DEPB rates which will benefit the textile sector. In addition, premium on export credit guarantee have been reduced by 10%, rates of Duty Drawback enhanced by 10 to 40 % of the existing rates and the rate of interest on pre-shipment and post-shipment credit have been reduced by 2%. The Government has also released about Rs. 600 crores to clear all arrears of terminal excise duties and Central Sales Tax reimbursement, the Minister added.
Regarding the Modified Rehabilitation Scheme of the NTC mills, the Minister informed the members that a schedule of implementation has been drawn up to modernize its 22 mills at the cost of approximately Rs. 540 crores. He hoped that 13 mills of NTC will be completely modernized by March next year and the remaining by March 2009. After the modernization, the NTC is projected to produce 600 lakh kilogram of yarn and 250 lakh metre of cloth annually with a turnover of more than Rs.931 crore in the year 2009-10. In addition, BIFR has also approved the modernization of 18 NTC mills through joint ventures. Out of these 18 mills, 2 mills at Coimbatore are likely to be dropped from the joint venture list due to improved performance and will be modernized by NTC itself. The Minister further informed that at present NTC is in the process of inviting proposals for joint ventures with private entrepreneurs to modernize and run some of these mills. He further stated that efforts of the Government to move NTC towards profitability has started bearing fruit and the dependence of the company on the Government has come down to Rs.60 crore from Rs. 300 crore annually.
During the discussions, the Members raised several issues concerning modernization of NTC mills and problems faced by the garment exporters in the wake of rupee appreciation vis-à-vis US dollar.
The Meeting was attended, among others, by the Minister of State for Textiles, Shri E.V.K.S. Elangovan, S/Shri D. Vittal Rao, Dhanuskodi Athithan, Mahesh Kumar Kanodia, Jai Prakash, Mohan Rawale, Member of Parliaments from Lok Sabha and Shri S. Anbalagan, Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha.