By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Professor, Texas Tech University, USA
(Lubbock, USA, April 13, 2022)-Government of India has slashed the import duty of cotton for a specific period effective tomorrow, April 14, 2022.
Indian textile industry has been making clarion calls to the Government to allow duty free import of cotton to stay competitive against other low-cost textile manufacturing countries.
Today, Ministry of Finance of India has announced that there will be no import duty on cotton for the period April 14, 2022, till September 30, 2022.
This news is welcomed by the Indian industry. In speaking with this scribe, Mr. Gandhiraj Krishnasamy, general manager of Coimbatore-based Lakshmi Card Clothing stated that this news is a welcoming one. He added that, this support from the government will exert influence on domestic cotton market to offer cotton at competitive price.
Already mills have been paying attention to cotton from High Plains of Texas and Australia and this concession from the Government will help the textile industry to stay competitive.
Adding to this sentiment, Mr. Velmurugan Shanmugam, General Manager of Aruppukkottai-based Jayalakshmi Textiles cotton spinning mill with 72,000 spindles stated that 11% import duty has been making the industry less competitive and mills would benefit with a waiver. Jayalakshmi Textiles will be receiving a consignment of three hundred tons of United States’ cotton this May. This exemption shall benefit the entire textile chain and will provide relief to consumers stated Gandhiraj Krishnasamy.
This news will serve as a timely gift by the Indian Government for the Tamil New Year celebration tomorrow in the State of Tamilnadu, which has the highest number of spinning mills in India.
