Textile entrepreneurs accepting the first textile policy with some reservations have expressed concern over the delay in the issuance of relevant notifications even after 15 days of its announcement.
The benefits mentioned in the policy would be available only after the notifications are issued.
The News has found that the delay in notifications has created uncertainty among textile exporters. They, for instance, would get the benefit of 1-3 per cent duty rebate on their exports from the date of notification.
Some of them are holding back exports in the hope that the government would soon be notifying and arranging finances for providing the announced benefits.
They said that for the reduction in mark-up the Ministry of Finance would have to notify the State Bank that the federal government would pick up the rebate on mark-up announced in the textile policy. The central bank, they added, would then issue the instructions to banks in this regard.
They said the payment of mark-up rebate would be from the date of notification and the industry would continue to suffer as long as the official notifications in this regard are not issued.
The value added industries awaiting payment of research and development facility worth over Rs5 billion for the last two years are more perturbed due to delay in notifications, which are necessary for the implementation of the policy. They were expecting immediate release of held-up payments to improve their liquidity position.
Meanwhile, the basic textile industry has been hurt but Rs4.5 billion subsidies have been announced only for the PTA manufacturer employing only 200-300 workers. They termed it discrimination between local and foreign investors.
The plant in question, they added, enjoyed a 10-year duty protection till 2005. Even today, they added, polyester yarn import is subjected to 4.5 per cent import duty and the PTA to 7.5 per cent import duty.
They said that government planners are not even alarmed by the fact that the textile industry has lagged far behind the global industry in use of manmade fibres because of high cost of polyester yarn.
They said that after the ten-year protection the government should have provided a level-playing field to the textile industry by allowing them to import polyester on zero duty as is done for all other textile inputs. Instead, they added the government through the National Tariff Commission has slapped anti-dumping duty on polyester yarn imported from China. This, they added, has burdened the local spinning industry with Rs6 billion annual costs that they have to bear on purchase of high priced polyester yarn.
The benefits mentioned in the policy would be available only after the notifications are issued.
The News has found that the delay in notifications has created uncertainty among textile exporters. They, for instance, would get the benefit of 1-3 per cent duty rebate on their exports from the date of notification.
Some of them are holding back exports in the hope that the government would soon be notifying and arranging finances for providing the announced benefits.
They said that for the reduction in mark-up the Ministry of Finance would have to notify the State Bank that the federal government would pick up the rebate on mark-up announced in the textile policy. The central bank, they added, would then issue the instructions to banks in this regard.
They said the payment of mark-up rebate would be from the date of notification and the industry would continue to suffer as long as the official notifications in this regard are not issued.
The value added industries awaiting payment of research and development facility worth over Rs5 billion for the last two years are more perturbed due to delay in notifications, which are necessary for the implementation of the policy. They were expecting immediate release of held-up payments to improve their liquidity position.
Meanwhile, the basic textile industry has been hurt but Rs4.5 billion subsidies have been announced only for the PTA manufacturer employing only 200-300 workers. They termed it discrimination between local and foreign investors.
The plant in question, they added, enjoyed a 10-year duty protection till 2005. Even today, they added, polyester yarn import is subjected to 4.5 per cent import duty and the PTA to 7.5 per cent import duty.
They said that government planners are not even alarmed by the fact that the textile industry has lagged far behind the global industry in use of manmade fibres because of high cost of polyester yarn.
They said that after the ten-year protection the government should have provided a level-playing field to the textile industry by allowing them to import polyester on zero duty as is done for all other textile inputs. Instead, they added the government through the National Tariff Commission has slapped anti-dumping duty on polyester yarn imported from China. This, they added, has burdened the local spinning industry with Rs6 billion annual costs that they have to bear on purchase of high priced polyester yarn.
