The textile committee report on the survey conducted for evaluation of allotment of quota under the Powerloom Exporters Entitlement (PEE) system has dismissed the claims of the powerloom sector for higher quota allocation. The report called for a complete overhaul of the system, incorporating a non-transferability clause. It also called for legal provisions to apprehend the offenders.
"The PEE system is not being utilised effectively. There are very few clubber shippers in relation to the actual number of allottees. Even from among these few, only about 50 per cent were found to have actually exported. The exports were mostly made in one or two categories and in a number of cases, the exported quantities were less than the clubbed quantities," observed the report on the survey which was restricted to clubber shippers for 1997 and 1998.
The team also detected the non existence of units at the declared addresses in several cases. It found that PEE quota was being sold under the guise of clubbing. "It was reported by some units that blank application forms for clubbing were signed and handed over to the agents," the report noted.
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The survey noticed that none of the clubbees were contributing any export goods. Most exporters sourced export goods from outside and did not disclose the status of the suppliers.
The survey found that for the year 1997, of the 208 clubber shippers, only 101 units had actually exported and during 1998, of the 148 clubber shippers, only 81 units had exported. Moreover, of the 101 units who had exported in 1997, 75 had exported only one category, 20 in 2 categories, 5 in 3 categories and 1 unit had exported 4 categories. Similarly, during 1998, out of 81 units to have exported, 52 had exported 1 category; 18 exported 2 categories, 7 in 3 categories, 2 in 4 categories and 2 units exported in 5 categories.
The report revealed that as many as 26 units had exported less than the clubbed quantities during 1997 while 37 units had done so in 1998. Further, only 23 units had reportedly sourced goods from SSI units during 1997 while only 7 had sourced from SSI units in the subsequent year.
The textile committee report pointed out that the benefits under the PEE system were not reaching the decentralised small scale powerloom sector and the gains were mainly enjoyed by middlemen who are neither manufacturers nor exporters.