Tarun Jain Bawa, Chairman, Bahadurke Textile and Knitwear Association and Federation of Textile and Manufacturing Association of Ludhiana, has accused the state government of inaction against the influx of an under-billed Chinese cloth in the state. 

Bawa highlights, subject to a 25 per cent import duty, filament polyester cloth is being wrongly imported as cotton fabric in the state with a 5 per cent duty from China. This is resulting in a direct tax evasion of 20 per cent, he points out. 

Questioning the possibility of such actions with the involvement of customs officials, Bawa reveals multiple attempts to address the issue with the Government of India have been unsuccessful.

Adding weight to these claims, another Ludhiana-based textile manufacturer alleges, polyster fabric, currently priced at Rs 320 per kg was being sold as cotton fabric for Rs 80 per kg in the state. Approximately 500 containers each carrying 22,000 kg of this fabric enter India on average, he adds. 

The government failure to contain the arrival of under-billed polyester in India is making survival difficult for Indian textile manufacturers, Bawa adds.