COIMBATORE, June 8: Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) Saturday appealed to the Union Commerce Ministry to come out with an alternative which was WTO compatible and similar to Merchandise Exports of India Scheme till a free trade agreement was inked with the EU, the UK and EAEU.
The request comes after remarks by Union Commerce andIndustry Minister Piyush Goyal that the industry and exportcouncils should stop depending on crutches of subsidies andgrants from the Central government and strive to make industrymore competitive and self-reliant.Though knitwear garment exporting units, 80 per centin MSMEs in Tirupur were striving hard to be competitive andself-reliant, the major concern was the absence of levelplaying field in the global market, TEA President Raja MShanmugham said in a statement.The subsidy like MEIS was actually introduced foroffsetting the infrastructural inefficiencies faced forexport of specified goods including ready made garments (RMG)to provide a level playing field, he said.He said the immediate removal of subsidy given to RMGsector at this juncture would straightaway lead to reductionof the country’s competitiveness in the global market.The TEA president said the RMG sector was providingmore employment to the downtrodden people, that too 60 percent women workers and it is required to protect this industryand also cotton farmers, as the fortune of industry is linkedwith them directly.In this background TEA has sent requisition letter toUnion Minister of Commerce and Industry to come out with analternative WTO compatible scheme with equal benefit of MEIStill inking Free Trade Agreement with EU, UK, EAEU and otherpromising countries for the sustenance of exports.The copies of letters were also sent to PrimeMinister, Union Ministers of Finance, Textiles and MSMEs, hesaid. (PTI)
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