Textile exporters on Sunday lamented the lack of any special provisions in the Budget 2008-09 to provide relief to the sector, saying that in the absence of any credible policy support, job losses and manufacturing units shifting to neighbouring countries will continue.
The industry was expecting proposals to address the issue of competitiveness and specific concerns relating to power, infrastructure and credit, said the Garment Export Association (GEA) Secretary General, Surinder Anand. The exporters were satisfied with measures taken by the government for improvement in higher education and skill development. The exporters said the allocations for existing schemes like Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) will be largely insufficient to meet the requirements.
The Council had been urging for refund of state levies to partly dilute the erosion in realisations. Zero import duty and excise duty on machines could have encouraged fresh investment as also mordernisation, both critical for improving competitiveness of this sector, exporters said.

SEEKING RELIEF FOR EXPORTERS


Upset with budget, Kamal Nath to meet PM
New Delhi, pti:

Disappointed with the budget proposal relating to the export sector, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath will soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek fiscal relief for exporters distressed by rupee appreciation. “None of the recommendations of both the Rangarajan and the Krishnamurthy Committee have been considered in the Budget. We are very disappointed and the Commerce Minister will meet the PM in the next few days,” a senior official told PTI. Nath said the annual review of the Foreign Trade Policy, due by the month end, would try and address many of the concerns of the exporters. According to the pre-Budget Economic Survey released last week, growth in textile exports for the April-September period of the current fiscal dropped sharply to a mere 1.2 per cent from 33.5 per cent in the year ago period.