The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) on Monday said the country’s textile and apparel sector will put its best foot forward to ensure that the benefits of the recently announced GST reforms reach the end customer.
“At the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, we have always believed that businesses must imbibe the spirit of an economic reform and not merely follow the letter. The same holds true regarding the landmark GST reforms,” CITI Chairman Shri Ashwin Chandran said, while commenting on the GST reforms which came into effect on September 22.
“CITI members and the entire textile sector stand committed to ensuring that the GST benefits reach the end customer as for us the interests of the customer always come first,” Shri Chandran added.
The CITI Chairman said that the textile and apparel items priced up to Rs 2,500 being charged a 5% GST, starting September 22, would make these products more affordable for common people and drive consumption upward. Earlier, only textile and apparel products priced up to Rs 1,000 were charged a 5% GST rate.
“We have no doubt that our industry will benefit in a major way from the game-changing GST reforms, for which we would like to reiterate our heartfelt gratitude to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Textiles Minister, the GST Council, and all concerned officials,” Shri Chandran said.
To benefit the textile and apparel sector, the GST changes announced have eliminated duty inversion to ease cash flow and working capital, ensured fibre neutrality with Man-Made Fibre having the same GST rate as cotton, and eased registration and compliance procedures to benefit small businesses.
Shri Chandran said the improvement in the ease of doing business, courtesy the GST reforms, could play a vital role in making India’s textile and apparel companies become more productive and competitive. “The GST reforms were just the sort of impetus the textile and apparel sector needed at a time when the industry is grappling with a grave crisis in the form of the high US tariff which has put at considerable risk our exports to the world’s No.1 economy,” the CITI Chairman added.
The US has imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods, effective August 27. The US is the single-largest market for India’s textile and apparel exports.
