Exporters seek including Tirupur in Smart City Programme

COIMBATORE: Tirupur Exporters' Association ( TEA) has requested the Centre to include the knitwear hub of Tirupur city in Smart City Programme as part of its programme to set up 100 Smart cities.

In the pre-budget memorandum submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, TEA said the textile industry, which provides employment next to agriculture, contribute about 13.25 per cent of India's total export basket and realized export earnings worth USD 41.57 billion in 2013-14.

This IT-driven programme will be helpful to faster decision making in the business and efficient communication apart from leading a quality life in Tirupur, with a populaton of nine lakh, and has recorded Rs.18,000 crores in Exports and Rs.9,000 crores in Domestic market in 2013-14, it said.

The exports are marching ahead, with a new target of doubling to Rs.36,000 crore in the next three years, it said.

Despite the availability of resources for manufacturing textile and garment products in the country itself, the garment sector has not grown up to its expectations due to various adverse factors, TEA president A Shaktivel said in the memorandum.

He requested the minister to include the deduction of 15 per cent of value of new machinery acquired and installed in the year under provision of Sec.32 Ac, available to Corporate assessees, to the non-corporate sector also, by scaling down the ceiling of investment to Rs one crore from Rs.25 crore.

Under the Export Performance Certificate Scheme, the garment sector utilized only Rs.727 crore against Rs.2,712 crore for 3 per cent of FOB value of garment exports at Rs. 90,402 crore in 2013-14, he pointed out.

As the duty free import percentage has been increased to 5 per cent from July 10, the non-utilization value could be still on higher side and therefore, to utilize the given facility out of 5 per cent, a maximum of 3 per cent of the licence may be allowed for import of fabrics without keeping restriction of 1,000 metre, he said.

The government should also expedite the signing of Free Trade Agreement with European Union and Canada.

As the cost was on higher side and also to encourage more number of exporters enter the garment field, Technology Upgradation Fund scheme subsidy for exporting units should be increased and interest subsidy should be increased from 5 to 8 per cent and Capital subsidy from 10 to 15 per cent, the memorandum said.