With the interim budget, days away from being presented by the Union Finance Ministry, the trade bodies and companies would have already presented their wish list, as to their expectations from Budget 2009. But since it is an interim budget, no major announcements can be anticipated from the government, other than having most of their expectations fulfilled in the 3rd stimulus package which is supposed to be released along with the budget.
The textile and garment industry is also waiting with baited breaths as survival of most in the industry, depends on the sops doled out by the government in order to face the economic crisis head on and stay competitive in international markets. In order to get to the depth of the pre-budget expectations of the industry, we spoke to a few industry leaders and this is the first in the series of pre-budget expectations brought to you by fibre2fashion.
We spoke to Mr. Balasubramaniam, Product Manager, Indian Industrial Garment Management Pvt. Ltd. (IIGM) to speak about his wish list with regards to the budget. With a network of 35 world leaders in Home Textiles and Apparel technology, 12 modern offices across India employing over 300 professionals, and over 5000 highly satisfied customers, speaks volumes about the success and growth record of India's foremost technology and services provider, IIGM.
Mr Balasubramniam replied by saying that, “In the current scenario, the Government has to bring down excise duties payable by exporters, which will provide an added advantage to exporters in negotiations with the buyers, in terms of selling price, as this will help in bringing down the cost of the final products and help the exporters, if not to grow, but at least to stabilize and survive through these difficult times”.
He continued by explaining, “As the manufacturing cost is always going up even in this recessionary period, I think it would be a better option for the government to reduce related duties which will attract more buyers to our country. Right now, manufacturers do have orders in hand, but the volume has come down drastically. If the government provides this support, the exporters will be in a better position to quote competitive prices vis-à-vis, their overseas counterparts”.
He further said, “Anyway, since the volumes are expected to be less for the next one year, we will be able attract more buyers into our country, rather than our business slipping away to competing countries like China and Bangladesh”. His other expectation was with regards to bringing down import duties on machinery and equipment imported by the sector, so that they can be technologically proficient in these difficult times.
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