Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)
The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has welcomed the decision of the Union Government to extend the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme for further three years.
In order to have a level playing field for the Indian textiles & clothing industry in the global market, the NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been taking a slew of measures and aggressively addressing the structural issues including raw material and tax reforms. In this series, the Government had announced Duty Drawback Scheme to refund the import duties and GST and also the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) to refund the embedded taxes and levies for the Indian apparel and made-ups exports to ensure zero rating of the exports i.e., to avoid export of taxes.
The Government had earlier launched Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) in 2016 that was in vogue till February 2019 and later RoSCTL Scheme was announced with enhanced rates taking into account, all the embedded taxes and levies on various inputs used for garments and made-ups. The Scheme again was kept in abeyance from January 1, 2021 and the new Scheme called Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) was announced. The industry has been pleading the Government to extend the RoSCTL scheme to mitigate the unforeseen and grave crisis posed by COVID-19 pandemic and also grab the emerging opportunities in the post-COVID period. Accordingly, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has given its approval for continuation of RoSCTL with the same rates till March 31, 2024 for the exports of apparel garments and made-ups.
Ashwin Chandran, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), in a press statement, has profusely thanked the Prime Minister, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, Minister of Finance and also the former Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani for extending the RoSCTL benefit with the same rates for three more years for garment and made-ups exports. He has said that the industry that had been struggling with the stagnated exports of garments and made-ups for more than four years, started getting good market opportunities in the post-COVID period. He has further said that the industry could not make commitments and materialise the orders in the absence of RoSCTL benefit and has been facing stress during the last couple of months. Ashwin Chandran has said that the announcement has now given enough confidence and level playing field to increase the exports and create new jobs for several lakhs of people.
SIMA Chairman has also welcomed the decision of the Cabinet Committee to cover all the remaining textile products in the value chain in the RoDTEP scheme that would enhance the global competitiveness of yarns and fabrics. He has hoped that the rates would be announced soon for all the remaining products that are not covered under RoSCTL.