The textile and clothing sector has urged the Centre to remove anti-dumping duty (ADD) on viscose fibre and address problems related to inverted duty structure in Man Made Fibre (MMF) segment for the industry to benefit from the recently announced Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.Of the 50 products identified for the scheme, most of them contain viscose, said Ashwin Chandran, president, Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA).India now has a negligible share in these items in the global market compared with Bangladesh and Vietnam. For instance, for women’s dresses made of artificial fibre, including viscose, India has 0.5% share in the global market. Share of Bangladesh is 7% and Vietnam’s 6.4%. Indian textile industry requires almost 6.34 lakh tonne of viscose fibre in FY20 and the fibre available for consumption from local capacities is 4.78 lakh tonne, he said.M. Senthil Kumar, former SIMA chairman, said since viscose fibre attracts anti-dumping duty ($0.103 to $0.512 a kg), textile industry imports viscose yarn which has only basic customs duty. Imports of viscose yarn are on the rise.Cotton, polyester, viscose and linen are the major fibres consumed in India. If the ADD on fibre is removed for viscose and linen, more spindles will be engaged in production of these yarns and domestic local powerloom industry would get the yarn at a lower price,, he added. “The government says it is focusing on MMF sector and has come out with the PLI Scheme. If the raw material price is high, how will the sector grow,?” he asks. “If the government really wants the PLI scheme to take off, the ADD at fibre level should be removed and all fibres should be treated equally,” he says.Several MSMEs in the MMF sector, in segments such as processing, are currently unable to take duty credit, adds T. Rajkumar, chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry.The government is talking to the industry and wants to give a boost to production of speciality fabrics and apparels that can be exported for all fashion seasons. This will mean focusing on the MMF sector. Hence, it is expected to set right the anomaly related to inverted duty structure in the MMF sector, he said.
