India is not in a position to impose further anti dumping duties on Chinese silk, other than those existing under WTO, despite fears that the opening of the Indo-Chinese trade through Nathula in Sikkim would flood the domestic market with cheaper silk products from the comunist nation.
"Anti-dumping duties exist at present under the WTO. It is difficult to add further duties now," Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela told newsmen after inaugurating the Textile Committee's new building at Salt Lake City.
Vaghela was reacting to apprehensions expressed by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at the inaugural function that China would try to dump its silk products in the state and the rest of the country once the trade route through Nathula opened up in June.
The Textiles Minister said, however, that he would look at "other ways" to give the country's silk industry a level playing field vis-a-vis its Chinese competitors.
Earlier, addressing the inaugural function, Vaghela said that while Indian textiles had been able to capture 25 per cent of the US and 20 per cent of European markets, China was ahead capturing 40 and 60 per cent of the US and European markets respectively. "They have work control, but we cannot since we have to work under a democratic set-up." In a bid to counter the uneven competition, the Centre has been offering various incentives in textiles like abolition of excise duty and upto 20 per cent capital subsidy in some areas.
Calling for more FDI in the textiles sector, he urged the Textiles Committee to set up an FDI cell to encourage more foreign investments.
