Polyester spun yarn manufacturers association NITMA India is protesting zero duty imports from Indonesia and Vietnam. On the other hand polyester staple fiber is not included in the free trade agreement and is cleared at the full duty rate of five per cent.

The domestic industry wants a level playing field. Domestic mills say that in the presence of this anomaly they have no chance of competing with imported goods. Imports have grown from 486 tons a month in 2015 to 5,109 tons a month in 2020-2021. Estimates are that the current market share of imports has reached 25 per cent of total domestic consumption. The domestic polyester spinning industry fears it will be wiped out very soon.

Industry representatives have suggested alternatively removal of basic customs duty on polyester staple fiber or its inclusion in the Asean FTA would also give a level playing field to the domestic industry. As both these options would take a long time to materialize, they feel that the anti-dumping duty be imposed till such time the FTA is modified to include polyester staple fiber or till such time that the basic customs duty on polyester staple fiber is removed. Since the rate of duty on input raw material and finished goods need to be the same, which is currently not the case, an early imposition of the anti-dumping duty is required.