To curb imports and promote domestic manufacturing, the Indian Government carried out an import analysis of textile and apparel imports. Imports of intermediate goods viz. fibre and yarn have a share of 43 per cent (approx.) in India’s overall textile and apparel imports, Minister of State of textiles Ajay Tamta said in written replies in the Lok Sabha.
To curb textile imports, the government raised the basic customs duty (BCD) from 10 per cent to 20 per cent on: 298 man-made fabric (MMF) fabric lines w.e.f. October 27, 2017; 5 Silk fabric lines w.e.f. February 2, 2018; and 504 lines w.e.f. July 16, 2018, comprising 22 fabric lines, 383 apparel lines, 75 carpet lines, 9 made-ups and 15 other lines.
Further, the government has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of linen yarn from China and nylon filament yarn from Vietnam and the EU w.e.f. October 19, 2018 and October 6, 2018 respectively. During April-October 2018, rupee has depreciated by 6.7 per cent to Rs. 68.8/$ (average) as compared to Rs. 64.5/$ (average) during April-October 2017. During April-October 2018, India’s textile and apparel exports stood at $22.9 bn as compared to $22.3 bn during same period last year. In 2017-18, India’s textile and apparel imports stood at $7.339 bn, compared to $6.293 bn in 2016-17.
