Rubber industry too wants tech upgradation fund

KOLKATA: The rubber industry is looking for a technology upgradation fund similar to that for the textile industry. It is planning to shoot off a memorandum to the commerce ministry demanding a special fund for capacity building and modernisation of the industry.

This was indicated by All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) eastern region chairman S Dhanania. Talking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Dhanania said the rubber industry requires huge fresh capital investment to ramp up rubber goods export.

Since technology upgradation is a key factor to gain competitiveness in the global market, AIRIA is preparing a module for technological upgradation for the rubber industry, for submission to the commerce ministry. The module has been prepared on the line of TUF for the textile industry.

AIRIA vice-president TK Mukherjee said that with the industry being hit by rupee appreciation, the industry body has again requested the government to set right the inverse import duty structure, prevailing for the industry.

Currently, import duty on natural rubber, a raw material for rubber goods, is fixed at 20% while the duty on finished rubber goods is 10%. Even as the import content is comparatively lower in rubber goods, exporters of these products are not getting the benefit of rupee appreciation due to higher import duty on raw materials.