Tariq Saud Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has demanded the government to completely withdraw the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) imposed on the textile industry. He said that the continuous decline in exports, especially the textile exports is a matter of concern as the exports of textile sector contribute over 55 percent in earning of the total export of the country and any decrease in textile exports would indicate decrease in the foreign exchange earning of the country.
In a statement, he said that the textile industry is facing a grave situation because of the high cost of doing business and liquidity constraints. imposition of GIDC has served to cripple the industry which is already burdened and has become uncompetitive vis-à-vis to their regional competitors in the absence of liquidity flow. Chairman APTMA in view of declining oil prices and natural gas prices in the international market there is no justification for imposition of GIDC. He urged upon the government to remove GIDC from entire textile chain and enable it to regain its competitive edge and market share.
He said that the import of synthetic yarns and fabrics of polyester, viscose and other blends is increasing by quantum leaps, during the financial year 2012-13 the import of yarn under Chapter 55 was 12,077 Tons and is expected to reach 47,000 Tons in the current Financial Year. The import of fabric under Chapter 55 was 65.1 Sq. and meters and is expected to increase to 125 million sq. meters. During the first eight months of the current financial year compared with the last full financial year (2014-15) the imports have surpassed the total imports in case of yarn and fabric imports, he mentioned.
He demanded the government to impose 15 percent regulatory duty on the import of yarn and fabric falling under Chapter 55 of the Custom Tariff and the duty on import of viscose and Acrylic Fibers should be reduced to zero percent, so that the domestic yarn producers can compete with Indian, Indonesian, Chinese producers who have their own manufacturing capacities to produce these raw materials and their variants.
"To revive the ailing textile industry, we demanded immediate payments of all pending refunds by the FBR, zero rating of all taxes on exports and providing Rebate in the form of DLTL @ 5 percent against export of yarns, fabrics, made-ups and garments, further reduction of long term financing facility by at least 1 percent, ie from 5 percent to 4 percent and reduction in Export Refinance Facility by another 0.5 percent, ie 3.5 percent to 3 percent and to provide this facility to complete textile chain ie from spinning to garmenting", he added. He also urged Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and the economic managers to come forward and support the viewpoints of the industry for taking bold decisions as requested above to regain the phase of bringing back viability in the textile industry and economic prosperity of the country.
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