However, the commerce department wanted all the 11,310 tariff lines covered, arguing that the new scheme would otherwise seem like a replica of the MEIS that has been deemed by a WTO panel as being “inconsistent” with global trade rules. The government will likely raise the allocation for its flagship export tax refund scheme — Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) — by a third this fiscal, amid apprehensions the current budgetary outlay of Rs 13,000 crore will fall way short of the amount required to implement the GK Pillai panel recommendations. The allocation for RoDTEP may be raised by about Rs 4,000 crore, sources told FE. Exporters have cautioned that any inadequate remission will compound a Covid-induced liquidity crunch and erode their competitiveness in the global market when demand from key economies is reviving. The sources said differences of opinion between the revenue and commerce departments over the RoDTEP coverage have almost been resolved and a proposal will be placed before the Cabinet very soon for approval. However, despite the likely hike, the outlay will still trail exporters’ expectations of Rs 25,000-30,000 crore. The RoDTEP scheme is supposed to reimburse various embedded levies (not subsumed by the goods and services tax) paid on inputs consumed in exports. It replaced the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) from January 1, 2021, but the refund rates are yet to be declared. One of the sources said that the revenue department could extend the RoDTEP scheme to all exported products. Initially, the department, facing an acute resource shortage in the wake of the pandemic, wanted to limit the coverage to 7,910 products that used to be covered under the MEIS. However, the commerce department wanted all the 11,310 tariff lines covered, arguing that the new scheme would otherwise seem like a replica of the MEIS that has been deemed by a WTO panel as being “inconsistent” with global trade rules. Of course, India has appealed against the panel’s ruling, which came in response to a complaint by the US, at the WTO and a verdict is awaited. In late July 2020, the government set up a committee under former commerce secretary GK Pillai to recommend RoDTEP rates. The panel’s report was then vetted by the departments of revenue as well as commerce. Exporters have urged the government to keep the RoDTEP outgo open-ended and not curtail the rates (from the levels recommended by the Pillai panel) or coverage to limit refunds to a certain annual budgetary outlay, if the idea is to keep exports truly zero-rated in sync with global best practices. After a roller-coaster ride last fiscal, exports have now crossed the pre-Covid (same months in 2019) level for three straight months, in what appears to be a strengthening trade recovery on the back of improved external demand. World trade volume (both goods and services) will likely reverse an 8.5% slide last year to rise by as much as 8.4% in 2021, the International Monetary Fund said in April. Similarly, world GDP is expected to rise by 6% this year, compared with a 3.3% contraction in 2020, it said. These have brightened the prospects for Indian exporters as well. Already, the government has set an ambitious merchandise export target of $400 billion for FY22, against $291 billion last fiscal. But for this to be realised, exporters stressed, the government should address the liquidity woes of exporters – who have been awaiting the release of tens of thousands of crores under the MEIS – and announce the RoDTEP rates urgently. This will enable the exporters to ramp up supplies to match up to a recovery in external demand and cash in on the global recovery, they said.
Source: Financial Express
Exporting units in the special economic zones (SEZs) should be incentivised on the degree of value addition it brings to a product in order to boost outbound shipments and attract investments in these zones, TPCI said on Saturday. Trade Promotion Council ofIndia (TPCI) Founder Chairman Mohit Singla said that at present, an exporter in an SEZ and a foreign exporter are at par when it comes to selling goods to a domestic tariff area (DTA). "Therefore, an exporter within the SEZ should be incentivised on the degree of value addition he brings to a product. He should be allowed to import raw material at zero duty and avail duty rebate proportionate to value addition. This will keep him at an advantageous position as opposed to importing finished products from another country," he said. He said this while speaking at TPCI's webinar on SEZs - the key to boost India's exports. ARM Reddy, Zonal Development Commissioner, Vishakhapatnam said that SEZs are doing well in India as exports are growing from these zones. "In 2005-06, exports were at Rs 0.23 lakh crore, and now they stand at Rs 5.53 lakh crore in 2020-21 despite the pandemic," he said. Exports from SEZs and export oriented units (EOUs) contributed about 30 per cent to the country's total shipments.
Source: Economic Times
The second wave of the pandemic has hit the medium- and small-scale sector like a tsunami. The first of a five-part series looks at the crisis Since he lives locally, Harish Patel is one of the luckier migrant workers in Surat — in that his employer was able to squeeze in a single shift for him at the weaving unit in Kamrej in Gujarat — unlike others who went home for Holi and other festivals just as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was waxing and ended up stranded in local lockdowns. Patel’s employer, Suresh Shekalia of Sandeep Textiles, did not have enough work to justify more shifts, but at least with one shift, Patel, 28, could earn something.
Source: Business Standard
Businesses had said there are practical difficulties in implementing the provisions of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) contained in a rule. Businesses buying shares or commodities traded through recognised stock or commodity exchanges for any value even above Rs 50 lakh will not be required to deduct TDS on the transaction, the income tax department has said. With effect from July 1, 2021, the income tax department has introduced a provision relating to Tax Deducted at Source (TDS )which would be applicable to businesses with turnover of over Rs 10 crore. Such businesses while making any payments for purchase of goods exceeding Rs 50 lakh in a financial year to a resident would be required to deduct a 0.1 per cent TDS. However, this provision would not be applicable on share or commodity transactions done through stock exchanges, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said. The tax department said it had received representations saying that there are practical difficulties in implementing the provisions of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) contained in Section 194Q of the I-T Act in case of transaction via certain exchanges and clearing corporations as sometime in these transactions there is no one to one contract between the buyers and the sellers. "In order to remove such difficulties, it is provided that the provisions of section 194Q of the Act shall not be applicable in relation to transactions in securities and commodities which are traded through recognised stock exchanges or cleared and settled by the recognised clearing corporation ," the CBDT said in its guidelines dated June 30. Section 194Q relating to TDS deduction by businesses was introduced in the 2021-22 Budget and has come into effect beginning July 1, 2021. The CBDT has also clarified that only those entities having turnover from the business of more than Rs 10 crores in the preceding financial year would be required to deduct TDS at the time of purchase of goods over Rs 50 lakh. Buyer is defined to be person whose total sales or gross receipts or turnover from the business carried on by him exceed Rs 10 crore during the financial year immediately preceding the financial year in which the purchase of good is carried out, it said. AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said transactions in goods were captured only in GSTN systems, as I-T laws never captured the transactional data related to purchase/ sale of goods. Now with these new TDS provisions, Income Tax systems will capture transactional sales of goods data also on a monthly basis. New income tax portal will use this information for big data analytics, and jurisdictional tax officers can also use these numbers during the assessment proceedings, Mohan said. "This new change will tighten the grip on manufacturing and trading communities, mandating them to indicate correct numbers in tax filings, leading to a surge in tax collections in the long run, Mohan added. He said that the CBDT has clarified that these TDS provisions do not apply to a buyer who does not have a business activity, irrespective of the turnover or receipts from nonbusiness activity. Thereby households, regardless of the non-business financial transactions value, are not liable to deduct any TDS under these provisions, Mohan added. Commenting on the guidelines, Nangia Andersen LLP said CBDT has clarified that since the provisions mandate the buyer to deduct tax on earlier of 'credit' or 'payment', if either of the two events happen before July 1, 2021, the transaction would not be subject to TDS. It has also been explained that the threshold of Rs 50 lakh for triggering TDS shall be computed from April 1, 2021.
Source: Business Standard
Sabu Jacob, chairman of Kitex group, on Saturday said while he has received unofficial communications from over 10 states and an official offer from Tamil Nadu, to take his investment there, the Kerala government has not made any efforts to approach him. The Tamil Nadu government, meanwhile, confirmed that a proposal has been extended to the Kitex group. Jacob told that principal secretaries and ministers from states across the country have been calling him up to discuss taking his Rs 3500 crore investment there from Kerala, but he has not yet taken a decision on it. He said he has also received an official offer from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and that too was under consideration. "Proposal has been extended to the Kitex group, which is keen on investing Rs 3,500 crore in the textile sector," a senior industries department official in Tamil Nadu told . Tamil Nadu, he said, has good potential for investments and it is a "very important, attractive investment destination." Apart from land at 50 percent of fair value, the incentives offered by the government include subsidised power for five years and 100 percent GST waiver for capital investment assets. However, the Kerala government was yet to approach him after he had announced withdrawal from a Rs 3,500 crore investment project in the state, alleging harassment by government officials. After Kitex announced its withdrawal from the project, Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeev on June 30 said that though the government has not received any official complaint from Kitex, a major apparel manufacturing company, the issue He had also said that the industrial sector was on the path of revival and offered the government's full support to genuine investors. Kitex Garments Ltd had said it has decided to withdraw from the project signed during the "Ascend Global Investors Meet" organised by the state government in Kochi in January2020. Jacob had earlier said it was difficult for him to run the existing industrial units in the State. He had alleged that various units of Kitex were raided 10 times by officials from various departments during the past one month. Jacob had alleged that officials comprising 40-50 in numbers, entered the factory units, carried out searches, prevented workers, including women employees, from doing their job, grilled them and harassed them. He had also claimed that the officials did not reveal the reasons for conducting such searches and what violations were committed by the company.
Source: Economic Times
Most departments' spending is learnt to have remained within 20% of BE in Q1 against available limit of 25%. The spending curbs imposed by the finance ministry on several ministries and departments for the September quarter, coupled with the lower-than-business-as-usual expenditure reported by many of them for the June quarter, could amount to budgetary savings of Rs 1.15 lakh crore or thereabouts in the first half of the current financial year. This would almost completely offset the additional budgetary spending commitments for the whole of FY22, arising from a set of relief measures announced by the government recently to soften the blow of the second wave of Covid-19. Various agencies have estimated the fiscal cost of the recent relief packages at Rs 1.2-1.3 lakh crore. Of course, a thrust being given to capital expenditure, a likelihood of a gradual increase even in the revenue spending in the second half of the year and overall revenue shortfalls could still put pressure on the fiscal deficit target of 6.8% of the year. But unless a more savage third wave hits the country and the whole fiscal plans go haywire, the fiscal deficit might not widen much beyond the budgeted level. According to official sources, less-than-budgeted level of spending could continue for many departments in Q3 also. On June 30, finance ministry asked 81 ministries/departments/organisations to scale down their Q2FY22 expenditure plans by at least 5 percentage points (pps) from the business-as-usual level of 25% of the full-year spending, in view of stress on the government’s finances. Most departments’ spending is learnt to have remained within 20% of BE in Q1 against available limit of 25%. Thanks to capping of spending at 20% in Q2, the cumulative saving from both quarters will be about Rs 1.03 lakh crore or 10% of the respective BE of Rs 10.35 lakh crore. On top of this, the departments exempted from spending curbs also could spend only 25% in Q2, meaning that these departments can’t carry forward their savings from Q1 to Q2. The level of savings will vary among departments – the move will likely compress spending on defence (revenue) by Rs 11,000 crore or about 10% of estimated spending in the first half of the current fiscal. As for higher education, the spending will be less by Rs 3,800 crore or a steep 20% in H1. Spending cuts will be Rs 2,700 crore in school education (less by 10% from the H1 estimate). The spending squeeze could be even sharper for departments such as labour, which spent only 1% of their full year BE of Rs 13,307 crore, in April-May, and might not have been able to utilise more than 10% by June. The Centre’s total expenditure is budgeted to be Rs 34.83 lakh crore (BE) in FY22, about 0.8% lower from the actual in FY21. Speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange on July 2, chief economic adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian stressed the need for augmenting capital expenditure by the government to give the much-needed support to growth, while saying that unconditional transfers that would inflate revenue expenditure, might not be the best way to address the distress among people and businesses due to the pandemic. “I don’t think there should be any problem for us in meeting the fiscal deficit targets for this year. The effort of the government is to try and limit spending that does not generate as much bang for the buck for the economy, and instead, direct that for capital spending,” he said. The spending controls imposed on ministries are part of re-prioritisation of spending in the wake of second wave of the pandemic. Similar measures were employed in AprilNovember of FY21, but the full-year budgetary expenditure by the Centre in the year turned out to be Rs 35.11 lakh crore or 15.4% higher than BE of Rs 30.42 lakh crore thanks to additional expenditures incurred to give relief to people as well as clearance of large chunks of food and fertiliser subsidy arrears even while bringing these items above the line. While analysts have doubts about the Centre achieving Rs 1.75 lakh crore disinvestment target, finance ministry officials are hopeful that FY22 tax revenue target will be surpassed thanks to economic revival and better compliance.
Source: Financial Express
India’s exports to Latin America amounted to $12.74 billion in 2020-21 (April-March), according to the figures released by the Commerce Ministry of India. The exports to the region have declined marginally by 3.3 per cent from $13.18 billion in 2019-20. This is not bad in view of the fact that India’s total global exports have declined by 7 per cent from $313 billion to $291 billion in the same period. Brazil continued as the number 1 destination of India’s exports to the region, with shipments valued at $4.25 billion.
The other major destinations were:
Exports to Mercosur were valued at $5,199 million, Pacific Alliance $5,522 million and CAFTA (Central America + DR) at $1,143 million.
Major exports:
Car exports
Latin America accounted for 30.5 per cent ($1.3 billion) of India’s global car exports of $4.3 billion. Mexico was the largest global market for Indian cars with $860 million in value of shipments. The US was second with $512 million. Other major destinations were Chile ($201 million) and Peru ($86 million).
Motorcycles
India was the second-largest supplier of motorcycles to Latin America with $577 million in shipments. This is 28 per cent of India’s global exports, valued at $2 billion. Major destinations were Colombia ($190 million), Mexico ($90 million), Guatemala ($84 million) and Peru ($53 million). Colombia was the third-largest global market for Indian motorcycles after Nigeria and Nepal. Some years back, Colombia was the number 1 destination. Indian brands are market leaders in Colombia and Guatemala. Hero Motors has invested $80 million in a production plant in Cali, Colombia
Pharmaceuticals
India is the fifth-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals to Latin America. Major destinations of India’s pharma exports were Brazil ($317 million), Peru ($128 million), Chile ($123 million), Mexico ($114 million), Colombia ($68 million), Dominican Republic ($54 million), Venezuela ($51 million), Guatemala ($48 million), Bolivia ($29 million) and Ecuador ($28 million).India’s exports to Latin American countries in comparison with neighbours, traditional trading partners India’s exports to some of the distant Latin American countries are more than the exports to neighbouring countries or traditional trade partners with same or more population. This is a trend of the last several years.
Examples:
· $209 million in exports to Dominican Republic (population 11 million), which is more than the $169 million to Cambodia (population 16 million) · $331 million to Guatemala (population 11 million) versus $225 million to Kazakhstan (population 19 million) · $865 million to Colombia (population 50 million) more than the exports of $779 million to the neighbouring Myanmar (population 53 million) · $4.24 billion to Brazil and $3 billion to Mexico versus exports to Russia ($2.6 billion), Nigeria ($3.1 billion), Egypt ($2.2 billion) and Canada ($2.9 billion) India exported more motorcycles (190 million) to Colombia than to neighbouring markets such as Bangladesh (98 million). India’s car exports to Chile, valued at $201 million, are more than the exports to Nepal ($85 million), Bangladesh ($41 million), Sri Lanka ($3 million) and Myanmar ($4 million).Imports
Major Latin American suppliers were Brazil ($3 billion), Mexico ($2.85 billion), Argentina ($2.63 billion), Peru ($1.52 billion), Colombia ($1.4 billion), Chile ($1.18 billion), Bolivia ($1.16 billion) and Venezuela ($714 million). Venezuela used to be the major source of imports in the region for the last 15 years with supply of large volumes of crude oil. Due to the US sanctions, Venezuelan oil supply to India has come down drastically from its peak of around $10 billion.Main import items in 2021
· Crude oil: $5,047 million
· Gold: $4,055 million
· Vegetable oil: $2,443 million
· Raw sugar: $612 million
· Copper: $479 million
· Machinery: $378 million
· Chemicals: $288 million
· Wood: $349 million
· Plastics: $162 million
· Fruits and vegetables: $110 million
Sources of crude oil imports: Mexico ($1,974 million), Brazil ($933 million), Colombia ($944 million), Venezuela ($644 million, down from $6.03 billion last year), Ecuador ($234 million) and Cuba ($67 million)
Sources of crude oil imports: Mexico ($1,974 million), Brazil ($933 million), Colombia ($944 million), Venezuela ($644 million, down from $6.03 billion last year), Ecuador ($234 million) and Cuba ($67 million)
Gold import sources: Peru ($1,500 million), Bolivia ($1,156 million), Colombia ($378 million), Brazil ($270 million), Dominican Republic ($234 million), Mexico ($192 million) and Argentina ($324 million) Argentina was the main Latin American supplier of edible oil, with imports valued at $2.19 billion, followed by Brazil ($256 million).
Decade of trade from 2010-11 to 2019-20
India’s exports had increased from $10.04 billion in the beginning of the decade to $13.7 billion in 2014-15. But the Latin American recession and economic difficulties caused a dip in India’s exports in 2015-16. Since then, the exports have increased steadily until the COVID-19 crisis. India’s imports reached a peak of $31.38 billion in 2012-13 due to the high crude oil prices and large volume of India’s imports from Venezuela. But since then, the oil prices have come down and due to US sanctions, the volume of imports from Venezuela has also reduced drastically. The annual India-Latin America trade had reached a peak of $44.08 billion in 2013-14 due to the high oil prices and large crude imports from Venezuela.Market
Latin America, the region of 19 countries, has a total population of 620 million and GDP of $5.4 trillion. The region, which had a historic GDP contraction of 7.7 per cent in 2020, is forecast to rebound with a growth of 3.7 per cent in 2021. The region's external trade declined by 8.6 per cent in 2020. Latin America's imports were $904 billion (down from $1,006 billion in 2019) and exports were $935 billion in 2020, declining from $1,007 billion in 2019. There is potential for India to increase its exports to about $20 billion in the next five years if the Indian exporters and government intensify their export promotion seriously and systematically. At this time of austerity, Latin Americans look for affordable products from less-expensive sources. Although China fits this expectation, the Latin Americans seek to reduce their overdependence on China with which there is a growing trust deficit especially after the coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan.
Source: The Week
We need to promote indigenous industry and indigenous knowledge and translate them into industrial production, says Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal In an interview with Jayanth Jacob, Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal debunks the notion that the state has labour problems, stresses why welfare measures are important, and reiterates the “harm” goods and services tax has caused to the states. Edited excerpts: The Kerala model of development has won acclaim for making laudable strides in public health and education. But it remains a consumer state, hugely dependent on remittances. You have been talking about the state becoming a producing state in the near future. What is the basis of your confidence?
Source: Business Standard
Pakistan is going to sign trade agreements with Uzbekistan in July to explore over $90 billion exports potential in Central Asia for achieving its unprecedented exports target of $35 billion set for the fiscal year 2021-22. For the purpose of Central Asia connectivity, Prime Minister Imran Khan is leaving for Uzbekistan on July 13. During his three-day visit (July 13 to 15), Pakistan and Uzbekistan will sign Transit and Preferential Trade Agreements said the prime minister's Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood in an exclusive talk with the members of Karachi based Council of Economic and Energy Journalists (CEEJ) in Islamabad. "Both countries have agreed to allocate dedicated space in Gwadar and Tashkent for establishing warehousing facilities to help each other in the transportation of goods to other regional countries," he said. We have planned to transport goods under the TIR Convention because the first-ever truck from Uzbekistan reached Pakistan under the TIR Convention in 48 hours, he said. "The government is contemplating offering loans to the transporters to update the country's dilapidated logistics network," he said. As the tariff rationalization as an instrument of growth, the government has made products export competitive in federal budget 2021-22 by rationalizing the tariff lines of over 4000 raw materials which are around 42 percent of total imported raw materials. The focus area for tariff rationalization was active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), poultry, engineering, and textile. The tariff of packaging raw materials, iron and steel, agricultural products would also be rationalized in the next fiscal year, Razak informed. Talking about the restructuring of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), he said some 10 commercial councilors have been removed since September 2018, due to poor performance and now the officials in TDAP, who used to own country-based responsibilities, have been assigned product-based responsibilities to improve their performances," he said. "Under the Strategic Trade Policy Framework, the incentives are now linked with product diversification and now the exporters have to show more diversifications in their products to get more incentives from the government," Razak said. Pakistan has witnessed record-high exports of $25.3 billion, including $15.5 billion in textile and $2 billion in IT services in the fiscal year 2020-21, which were nearly $4 billion higher than the US $21.4 billion achieved in 2019-20. While admitting the impact of the Covid situation on the record-high exports, Razak is advocating a 'high-target, high achievement approach', informing that the government has fixed US$35 billion export target, including $28 billion for goods and $7 billion for services for the current fiscal year 2021-22. "We know it would be a Herculean task to achieve because the world is opening and everybody is going to get into the export market but everybody should move and try to make it achievable," he said.
Source: Brecorder
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga says that production at the Eravur Fabric Processing Park will commence within a year. The Minister said he has instructed the Board of Investment to take immediate action in this regard. Minister Ranatunga recently observed the construction of the Fabric Processing Park in the Eravur area in Batticaloa. Infrastructure development activities in this Export Processing Zone are currently underway. The government plans to set up the garment industry park on a 265 acre land in the Eravur Punnakuda area. The Board of Investment says that this export processing zone, which will consist of 10 factories will create about 5,000 direct and a large number of indirect employment opportunities. The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka manages the internal development and management of the zone. External infrastructure development is implemented by the Ministry of Industrial Development. During his visit to the site, Minister Ranatunga instructed that investors should be given the opportunity to build factories in parallel with the development of this infrastructure. The Minister also instructed to complete the construction work within a year. He suggested that the beach parallel to the investment zone be developed as a tourist attraction and that a program be developed to enable tourists to use it for coastal activities. He also discussed the plan with the fishermen of the area and the monks of the temples in the area. Minister Prasanna Ranatunga emphasized that the garment industry accounts for 44% of the country's total export earnings. It adds US $ 5 billion annually to the country's national income. Although there are about 600 garment factories in the country, there are only 6 textile and raw material manufacturing factories, the Minister pointed out. The raw materials required for the local garment industry are imported from countries such as China, India, Taiwan and Indonesia. These countries are also involved in the garment manufacturing process, making it difficult to procure raw materials on time due to the prevailing global competition. Sri Lanka also spends about US $ 2.8 billion annually on the import of textiles and raw materials for the garment industry. The Minister said that with the opening of this textile production park, it is expected to save around US $ 500 million annually and that is why the government is launching this garment industry park with an investment of Rs. 5 billion. He added that the garment industry park will be developed as an eco-friendly industrial park. State Minister of Aviation and Investment Zone Development DV Chanaka, participating in the occasion, said the government has always protected investors and employees and has already vaccinated all employees in projects operating under the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka in the Eastern Province. State Minister Chanaka said that local and international investors would be facilitated to invest in Sri Lanka and that it was a matter of urgency to develop such areas outside the capital.
Source: Colombo Page
Country's apparel exports to the United States bounced back during the first five months of this calendar year, registering a double-digit growth both in terms of value and volume compared to the same period of last year. The exports to the single largest destination returned to the positive territory after facing a setback for some time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, industry insiders said. The readymade garment (RMG) exports to the USA grew by 15.38 per cent to US$ 2.58 billion during the period from January to May this year than that of the same period last year, according to statistics released on Friday. Bangladesh had fetched $ 2.24 billion during the corresponding period of 2020, according to the figures available with the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), an affiliate of the US Department of Commerce. Apparel exporters said the industry registered better performance due to the start of economic recovery aided by the good coverage of Covid-19 vaccination, better control in coronavirus infection, and a shift of orders from China. During the first five months of the 2021 calendar year, Bangladesh shipped 1.02 billion square meters of apparel items, up from 807.67 million square meters or 27.30 per cent. The RMG exports to the USA stood at $5.22 billion in 2020, down from $5.92 billion in 2019, according to the data. The overall apparel imports of the USA from across the world during the period under review also increased by 22.19 per cent to US$ 29.21 billion from $23.91 billion during the same period in 2020, data showed. During this period, the US apparel imports from China witnessed 26.17 per cent growth to US$ 5.82 billion, which was $4.61 billion during the corresponding period of last calendar year. US imports from Vietnam and Cambodia also witnessed a growth of 19.48 per cent and 15.35 per cent to $5.74 billion and $ 1.24 billion respectively year-on-year during the period. Apparel exports from other major sourcing destinations including India, Mexico, and Pakistan also grew by over 21 per cent to 58 per cent except Indonesia that was maintaining a negative growth of 1.75 per cent. When asked, Md Shahidullah Azim, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said the US economy is slowly recovering from the adverse impact of Covid-19 with the rise in consumer spending. Besides, the US buyers have shifted some of their orders from China to Bangladesh while exports from India to US suffered due to the deteriorating Covid-19 situation, he added. He, however, hoped that local RMG exports to USA will increase further with the return of one of its big companies - the Walt Disney - to Bangladesh. Disney that stopped sourcing from Bangladesh eight years back will reinstate Bangladesh as its permitted sourcing country, he said. He added that it would also help to regain the image of the industry that has made significant improvements in the areas of workplace safety and other issues.
Source: The Financial Express
