The textile industry in Ludhiana is upset over the import of Chinese cloth in bulk and that too under-billed. The industry, levelling allegations on the government said though the government was in loss to the tune of several crores of rupees, still it failed to curb the practice resulting in the local textile industry being on the verge of closure.
Talking to The Tribune, Tarun Jain Bawa, chairman, Bahadurke Textile and Knitwear Association and Federation of Textile and Manufacturing Association of Ludhiana, said that filament polyester cloth, the import duty of which is 25 per cent, was coming in bulk from China. “Actually, polyester was coming while the import duty was being paid for cotton fabric at the rate of just 5 per cent by showing that cotton fabric was coming. There was direct tax evasion of 20 per cent. Now how is this possible without the connivance of customs officials? We have written to the Government of India many times but to no avail,” said Bawa.
Another textile manufacturer from Ludhiana said there was under billing of cloth, as polyester was Rs 320 per kg, while it was shown that the fabric was for Rs 80 per kg (cotton fabric price). “Not even a yarn is available for Rs 80 per kg, and some blacksheep in the business were getting cloth for Rs 80 per kg,” said the manufacturer, adding that on average about 500 such containers come to India. Each container with around 22,000 kg of fabric.
“We cannot survive when loads of under-billed polyester is reaching India and authorities fail to take any action”, said Bawa.
Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/