A team of plastic promotion bodies like Indian Plastic Federation and The Plastic Export Promotion Council (TPEPC) is planning to meet the ministry of commerce next week to discuss issues curbing the growth of the plastic industry.
Top of the agenda would be expanding the incentive scheme to the plastic industry which at present is extended to only the small and medium enterprises and to industries like leather and textiles.
This apart, expediting the process of tax refunds, and liberalising the import of industrial plastic scrap, which has a huge scope for export, would be taken up.
“We have been invited by the Director General of Foreign Trade for inputs in the New Foreign trade policy. One step that we will strongly recommend to the government is to allow import of industrial plastic scrap under the open general licence, ” said Nemish Sayani, chairman, The Plastic Export Promotion Council, on the sidelines of a quarterly regional council meet.
This would allow Indian manufacturers to manufacture products like carry bags and garbage bags at a much cheaper rate and compete with other Asian players like Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam which were gaining big, he added.
In 2007-08, $ 3.5 billion worth plastic goods, mainly finished and semi-finished products like woven sacks or rafias were exported to markets like the US and UAE markets as against the target of $ 3.8 billion, registering a growth of 10 per cent.
But in fiscal 2008-09 exports had been hampered due to erratic supply of raw material, closure of certain raw material producing units and frequent hikes in the polymer prices.
For the last six months the prices of domestic raw materials on an average were higher by $150 per metric ton than the international prices.
“Leading polymer producers in India were quoting higher prices than the international price since the past six months to exporters and manufactueres of finished products. We have repeatedly negotiated to reduce the price, but all in vain,” said Sayani.
The industry expects a marginal two per cent growth in 08-09 fiscal on the backdrop of the current economic downturn but hopes to make some revival this financial year.
