Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), has urged Prime Minister Narender Modi to announce a special growth package for MMF sector. Shah points out MMF exports declined 19 per cent during 2020-21. Export of fibers declined 28 per cent, yarn 15 per cent, fabrics 18 per cent and made-ups 23 per cent, according to the data released by DGCI&S.

He therefore, urged the Prime Minister to release all pending dues of exporters under Drawback, MEIS, IGST, ROSL, RoSCTL, TUFS on an urgent basis; grant moratorium for repayment of principal and interest for at least one year; allow banks to restructure loans for one year without any additional charges/ penal interest, etc; direct RBI to relax NPA norms for six months; provide at least 35 per cent of the workers’ salary payments for a period of 12 months to protect the MSMEs reeling under severe impact of COVID-19; extend ECGC support to address the cancelled and deferred orders; onclude entire MMF textile value chain viz., fibres, yarns, fabrics, made-ups, etc under RoDTEP Scheme & declare RoDTEP rates immediately with a minimum rate of 7 per cent; extend the EPCG Scheme for the next 5 years; introduce a uniform 5 per cent GST rate for entire value chain in the MMF textiles segment and continue the Interest Equalization Scheme (IES) benefit for exports and enhance the IES to 5 per cent.