Govt making efforts to get duty concessions on textile via FTAs: Goyal

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the government is making efforts towards gaining access to new markets and getting concessional duties on textile products through free-trade agreements.

Interacting with textiles associations, the Minister for Textiles and Commerce and Industry shared that in all the ongoing negotiations with major countries like the UK, the UAE, Canada, the European Union and Australia, there is a special focus on getting concessional duties for textile products.

Goyal also thanked the prime minister for the decision to defer the increase of GST slab from five per cent to 12 per cent for the textiles sector while addressing the All India Textiles Association, according to an official statement.

"He added that the requests of industry stakeholders were considered in present challenging times when the sector is on the path of recovery.

"He also expressed his gratitude to the textiles leaders who remain connected with the ministry with all their grievances regarding raising the GST slab in MMF (manmade fibre) segment," the textiles ministry stated.

Referring to the production-linked incentives scheme for textiles, he said PLI will increase the global footprint of India in manmade fiber and technical textiles.

He added that the Rs 10,683-cr PLI scheme will create 7.5 lakhs direct jobs.

Goyal also said approval for seven PM Mega Integrated Textile Region & Apparel (PM-MITRA) Parks will attract cutting-edge technology and investment, and generate around one lakh direct and two lakh indirect employment per park.

He added that textiles exports increased 45 per cent to USD 16.7 billion in April-November 2021 with respect to the same period in April-November 2019.