In order to give a fillip to the textile sector, the Standing Committee on Labour chaired by Kirit Somaiya, in its report, has said that the Textiles Ministry should impress upon the Finance Ministry to reconsider the overall Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate structure for the textiles sector and impose higher anti-dumping duty to protect domestic players in the sector.
The panel noted that the Textiles Ministry has also taken up the issues on inverted duties structure on man-made fibre, imposition of GST on job work, credit transfer documents issues, non-refund of input tax credit, GST for weaving industry, lowering of GST rates for machinery used by MSME textile units, etc. It observed that the Ministry of Finance has approved Rs 7,147.73 crore only during the year 2018-19, against the Textile Ministry’s proposed outlay of Rs 10,109.05 crore.
The Committee further said that the Secretary, Ministry of Textiles has deposed that though it appears that Budgeted Expenditure (B.E) 2018-19 which includes Cotton Corporation of India’s loss of Rs 921.23 crore is more than the B.E 2017-18 by Rs 921.23 crore, in reality B.E 2018-19 is Rs 3 crore less than the B.E of 2017-18. It noted that the reduction of B.E would adversely impact implementation of ongoing schemes of the Ministry of Textiles, particularly those aimed at benefitting the unorganised sectors of powerloom, handloom, handicrafts, wool and sericulture.