Interest equalisation for merchants to benefit 40% of textile exporters

Last week, the government extended the scheme to merchant exporters, who form a major part of India's textile and apparel exports

The extension of the interest equalisation scheme is set to benefit nearly 40 per cent of textile and apparel exporters in India, according to experts.

Provided for pre- and post-shipment of textile and apparel products, the scheme offers 5 per cent interest subvention on working capital loans borrowed from banks for all products manufactured and exported by medium and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The scheme is available at 3 per cent on 416 specified tariff lines for non-MSME players. However, it was earlier available only to manufacturer-exporters, not to merchant exporters.

Last week, however, the government extended the benefit to merchant