Those with an annual turnover of up to Rs 5 crore can file quarterly returns, if they choose so Come January and the government is empowered to send its recovery officials to your premises to collect GST without notice, if your tax liability shown in the requisite form is less than what invoices, mentioned in the outward supply form, should draw. The relevant provision in the Finance Act, 2021, will come into effect from January 1, 2022, according to a gazette notification issued on Tuesday. Under the GST system, there are two kinds of returns that a company is required to file monthly if its turnover is over Rs 5 crore annually. These are from GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B. The former is a return that shows invoices of its sales and the latter is for declaring summary GST liabilities. While GSTR-1 is to be filed by the 11th of the following month of the transactions, GSTR-3B is to be filed by the 20th of the next month. Those with an annual turnover of up to Rs 5 crore can file quarterly returns, if they choose so. Now, if someone has reported invoices of Rs 1 crore in GSTR-1 but showed taxes on only Rs 1 lakh of sales in GSTR-3B, the government from January onwards will be empowered to send officials to his/her business premises to recover GST on Rs 99 lakh of sales. In this case, the government is not required to give notice. “The government will merely say your liability existed and you never paid the taxes. Thereby, there is no need of giving you an opportunity of being heard; there is no need of giving you notice,” explained Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG & Associates. “’We can directly ask you to pay taxes with interest and penalty. Because these GST forms are self-assessment only,’ the government may very well say after this notification comes into force,” according to Mohan. The Finance Act also levied GST on clubs on the money collected from members, if the sum is not used for charitable purposes. This would also come into force in the new year. Mohan said there are a plethora of rulings from different authorities for advance rulings (AARs) on whether GST should be levied or not on money collected by clubs. The notification would also debar the buyer to get an input tax credit for transactions, if the seller does not mention them in his/her form GSTR-1 from the new year.
Source: Business Standard
The sector had opposed the increase citing higher compliance costs, especially for the unorganised sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), besides making clothing more expensive for the poor. Despite concerns expressed by the industry, the government is unlikely to defer implementation of higher Goods and Services Tax (GST) on certain textile products, as the decision was taken by the GST Council. The new GST rates will kick in from January 1. The sector had opposed the increase citing higher compliance costs, especially for the unorganised sector and micro, small and medium enterprises.
Source: Economic Times
Goyal explained that the systems should not just be for the tech-savvy sections, but must reach the masses. Simplicity in the systems, timely delivery of services and ensuring that services reach every section of the society are key to reducing compliance burden, union minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. Goyal who holds the portfolios of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution and of textiles urged the political leadership, bureaucracy and industry leaders to focus their initiatives to reduce compliance burden on principles of simplicity and timely delivery of services. The minister was speaking at the ‘national workshop on the next phase of reforms to reduce compliance burden’ organized by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade. The minister noted that more than 25,000 compliance requirements have been reduced in the previous exercise of the Centre to promote ease of living and ease of doing business. “Simplicity is extremely important in our world because at the end of the day, we have to look at everything becoming very simple," the minister said, referring to how some of the private railway ticket booking portals have simplified the ticket booking system. The minister explained that the systems developed in the country should not just be for the tech-savvy sections of society but should reach every citizen. Goyal asked policy makers to consider the wide disparity in income, literacy level and the gaps in infrastructure, especially connectivity, while planning the delivery of services, especially if technology is involved. “Also monitoring has to be simple. If monitoring is too much, then monitoring becomes more cumbersome than the problem itself," the minister explained about the philosophy behind reducing the compliance burden and improving ease of living. Goyal also emphasized it was important to trust people as trust would mean a lot of reporting requirements could be done by way of self-certification. “You have to trust people and it will simplify a lot of things and make them system driven," the minister said.
Source: Live Mint
The Tamil Nadu Federation of Power Looms Associations is demanding a restoration of GST to its previous slab of 5 per cent, Panneerselvam pointed out. AIADMK top leader O Panneerselvam on Tuesday urged the Centre to ensure that the GST slab rate is brought down to 5 per cent on textile and apparel items. In the wake of the twin factors of the COVID-19 pandemic for the last two years and huge rise in the price of cotton yarn, the textile industry in Tamil Nadu is already facing hardship and lot of challenges, Panneerselvam, who is also a former Chief Minister said. Against such a background, a decision was taken by the GST Council in its last meeting to correct the inverted tax structure by rising GST from 5 per cent to 12 per cent for several textile and apparel items with effect from 1 January 2022, the AIADMK leader said in a letter to Union Minister for Textiles, Piyush Goyal. “It has come as a blow to micro, small and medium-scale textile and clothing units in Tamil Nadu leading to loss of livelihood for lakhs of workers. This move will push up prices for consumers and spike in inflation,” he said. The Tamil Nadu Federation of Power Looms Associations is demanding a restoration of GST to its previous slab of 5 per cent, Panneerselvam pointed out. “I, therefore, request you to kindly take up this matter with the Ministry of Finance and ensure that the GST slab rate is brought down to five per cent on textile and apparel items.”
Source: Indian Express
Addressing the ‘National Workshop on the next phase of reforms to reduce Compliance Burden’, he said that more than 25,000 compliances have been reduced in the previous exercise implemented by the centre to promote Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Busines Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday called for the creation of a single identification number for businesses and individuals by merging several identification numbers that exist at present, such as Aadhaar, PAN and TAN, for smoother and faster delivery of services. Addressing the ‘National Workshop on the next phase of reforms to reduce Compliance Burden’, he said that more than 25,000 compliances have been reduced in the previous exercise implemented by the centre to promote Ease.
Source: Economic Times
The proposed change in Goods and Services Tax (GST) with effect from January 1 is helping micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) manufacturing polyester and blended fabric to regain their lost ground. The uniform GST rate of 12 per cent will give these textile units an advantage compared to large mills that manufacture yarn and fabric. The existing GST structure encouraged yarn manufacturers to set up integrated manufacturing plants, as it gave them 7 per cent GST benefit because GST on fabric is 5 per cent while that on polyester, blended and viscose yarn is 12 per cent. To take advantage of this inverted tax structure, most of the man-made yarn manufacturing mills in north India, particularly Punjab, had installed fabric machines and began production. These large-scale yarn manufacturing companies created big fabric production lines of 50 to 100 machines. As a result, smaller manufacturing units in Ludhiana found themselves difficult to survive in the competition, a source told Fibre2Fashion. “In the last few years, the manufacturing of fabrics has shifted from small units to the hands of large manufacturers.” But the uniform rate of 12 per cent GST applicable from January 1 will make fabric manufacturing unprofitable for yarn producers. According to industry sources, the largescale yarn manufacturers have started uninstalling their fabric making machinery with an intention to focus on making polyester and blended yarn production. “Fabric manufacturing will no longer be profitable for yarn mills, and they have already drastically reduced the production of fabrics,” Sanjay Garg, president of Northern India Textile Mills’ Association (NITMA) and managing director of Punjab-based yarn company Longowalia Yarns Limited, said. On the proposed changes in GST, Garg said it was necessary to bring uniformity. “There is little possibility that the government will withdraw its decision. The decision was taken by the GST Council, so central government is not in a position to take a call. The decision has started hampering trade, and business activities will not be smooth for the next twothree months.”
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Over 25,000 compliances have been reduced by Union ministries, states and UTs so far to further improve ease of living and doing business, a top government official said on Wednesday. Over 25,000 compliances have been reduced by Union ministries, states and UTs so far to further improve ease of living and doing business, a top government official said on Wednesday. These compliances were reduced during the last phase of an initiative that ended on August 15 this year. Now, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), an arm of the commerce and industry ministry, has again started the initiative to further identify the pain points for businesses and common people and reduce or eliminate those burdens. To further improve ease of living and doing business, the DPIIT is conducting a National Workshop on the Next Phase of Reforms for Reducing Compliance Burden'' on December 22. The workshop is witnessing participation from across central ministries and states/Union Territories (UTs). "In the last phase, which ended on August 15 2021, more than 25,000 compliances were reduced...However this is not the end of the journey, there are still compliance burdens," DPIIT Secretary Anurag Jain said at the inauguration of the workshop. Three groups will deliberate on three themes and submit their report to the cabinet secretary today. The themes are effective grievance redressal, national single sign-on for efficient delivery of citizen services, and breaking silos and enhancing synergies among government departments, he added. "How do we reduce grievances to the satisfaction of peopleif the grievances cannot be resolved or accepted, in that case, can we handle it sensitively and communicate why it is not possible...," Jain said. The session on breaking silos would focus on integration between central ministries/ departments and state single window systems, and single business ID. Session on single sign-on would deal with deliberations on onboarding all citizen services by central and state government services under one roof -- National Citizen-Centric Portal and the creation of a 'National Digital Profile' for all citizens that would be used to pre-fill government forms and also as a tool to citizen benefit welfare discovery. The third session on grievance redressal would focus on topics like usage of nextgeneration technology in effective grievance redressal, and accountability-based mechanisms for enhanced effectiveness of redressal quality.
Source: Business Standard
Currently, major ports' PPP concessionaires handle around 50 per cent of the total traffic handled by all the major ports in India In a major reform for the port sector, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday announced tariff guidelines for the public private partnership (PPP) projects in major ports, saying they will usher in a new era of market economy and make major ports more competitive. According to an official statement, in the new Act, the provision of the erstwhile Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) stands abolished. The need for Tariff Guidelines, 2021 for the PPP projects in major ports arose consequent upon the new Major Port Authority Act, 2021 coming in vogue w.e.f. November 3, 2021. According to the statement, currently, major ports’ PPP concessionaires handle around 50 per cent of the total traffic handled by all the major ports in India. “The guidelines allow the concessionaires at major ports to set tariffs as per market dynamics,” the statement said. It noted that the biggest benefit of transition to market linked tariff is that a level playing field will be provided to the PPP concessionaires at major ports to compete with private ports. “PPP concessionaires at major ports were constrained to operate under the stipulations of these guidelines (by TAMP) whereas private operators/PPP concessionaires at nonmajor ports were free to charge tariff as per market conditions," the statement said, adding that these new guidelines will be applicable for future PPP projects, including the projects which are currently under the bidding stage. Making the announcement, Sonowal said the government mandated concessions in tariff for trans-shipment, and coastal shipping shall continue to apply to all PPP future concessionaires. “In fact, the government has gone a step further and made further concessions to promote trans-shipment and coastal shipping. The royalty payable for trans-shipment cargo will now be 1.0 times (from 1.5 times earlier) the normal container,” he said. Similarly, the minister said for the coastal cargo, the concessionaire has to pay only 40 per cent of the royalty payable for foreign cargo (from 60 per cent earlier) in accordance with coastal concession policy of the government. “For transparency, the tariffs so fixed are to be hosted on the website of the concessionaire,” he noted. The minister observed that these guidelines will usher in an era of market economy for the sector and go a long way in making the major ports competitive.
Source: Business Standard
According to the Bangkok Post, Bangladesh has become the third largest trade partner of Thailand in south Asia. In 2018, the annual bilateral trade was worth $1.25 billion Bangladesh has always viewed Thailand as a reliable and credible friend. Since our independence, both countries have enjoyed an amicable relationship. And as both countries share a regional platform like BIMSTEC, one would expect them to have a fruitful trade partnership. The bilateral trade between these countries has grown in recent years, especially in the commodity market. In 2018 and 2019, Thailand held a four-day long trade fair at Dhaka. It was extremely fruitful as many Thai businesses, along with top Thai brands participated in it. As a result, according to the Bangkok Post, Bangladesh has become the third largest trade partner of Thailand in south Asia. In 2018, the annual bilateral trade was worth $1.25 billion. That figure actually declined by almost 17% in 2019. Both countries are now working on a free trade agreement to bolster trade. To address bilateral concerns, a joint trade commission (JTC) has been set up. In its meetings, Bangladesh has been asked to increase its investments in Thailand. On the other hand, Thailand has agreed to increase Bangladeshi exports into the country. This figure includes the importation of electrical equipment, electronics, iron and steel, organic chemical products, cement, cereals, plastics and articles thereof, man-made staple fibres, sugar and sugar confectionery, machinery and mechanical appliances, cotton and cotton fabrics, synthetic fibre and cotton. Meanwhile, Bangladesh mainly exports leather and leather products, medicines, marine fish and other animal products, paper and paper pulp, soap, articles of apparel, plastic products and rubber products, electrical & electronic equipment, made textile articles, products of animal origin, vegetable textile fibres, fish and crustaceans, etc. Even though the country has sought Bangladeshi investment, there are not significant Thai investments in Bangladesh either. According to BEPZA and BEZA of Bangladesh, Bangladesh is building 100 free economic zones for foreign investors. It is also providing "one stop service" for foreign investors. With the vast amount of economic and infrastructural development in the last decade, Bangladesh should now be a prime target for Thai investors. To make our country more lucrative, the government is considering allocating land to establish a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Thailand. Potential investors can also invest in energy production, regional connectivity and in the services sector of Bangladesh. Tourism is also suited for Thai investments, especially considering the expertise Thai investors would bring to Bangladesh's market. Mutually beneficial terms must be included in the probable free trade agreement. Bangladesh has sought duty-free facilities for medicines, leather goods, jute and jute textile fabrics, textiles made of jute yarn, knitted and woven shirts, T-shirts, knitted garments, women's towels, cotton shirts from the Thai government. China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia export huge quantities of garments to Thailand every year with duty-free facilities. As one of its most significant trade partners, Bangladesh should also get this benefit. It will also go a long way to reduce trade inequality between both countries. Bangladesh is a rising economic powerhouse. It can serve as a potential hub for Thai trade with the larger south Asia region. The Matarbari deep seaport and Cox's Bazar airport will be crucial for increasing the connectivity between these two nations. A mutually beneficial free trade agreement will not only galvanise both economies, it can also open doors previously unseen. Both countries must earnestly pursue economic cooperation to maintain the prosperity of both nations.
Source: TBS News
The industry consortium Fashion for Good launched last year with the goal of bringing innovative, disruptive solutions for recycling rayon and other synthetic cellulosic fibers to the global textile market. Now the group has broadened its reach to include polyester. In both cases, they are aiming high. Rather than downcycling recovered fibers, Fashion for Good is aiming to increase fabric recycling and send such fibers back into the apparel manufacturing stream. Chipping away at a mountain of fabric waste, with chemistry Based in Denmark, Fashion for Good is a soup-to-nuts partnership founded with a singular purpose: to deploy innovative new chemical recycling processes in the fashion industry. Conventional fabric recycling typically involves mechanical or heat-based processes, such as shredding or melting. The resulting fibers are often of lesser quality, which limits the scope of the market for recycled material. For example, until recently plastic bottles could not be recycled into new plastic bottles. The market for recycled paper was similarly limited. New advances in recycling technology have expanded the market for recycled paper and plastics. That includes new chemistry-based processes that break down plastic waste into elemental building blocks, which can be reassembled into new materials that perform as well as — or even better than — the source materials. Textile-to-textile fabric recycling would certainly disrupt the fashion industry as we know it today. When Fashion For Good started its “Full Circle Textiles Project - Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling” program last year, the organization stated that up to 73 percent of clothing globally ends up in the trash, and less than 1 percent of recycled fiber makes its way back into fabric for the fashion industry. Polyester fiber targeted for recycling Those figures probably haven’t budged much since last year, but Fashion for Good’s collaborative, team-based strategy demonstrated enough progress on cellulosic fiber recycling to form the basis for a second team, focusing on polyester. “The Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester brings together a consortium of stakeholders including brands, innovators, supply chain partners and catalytic funders – a structure that has proven successful in driving and scaling disruptive innovation in the industry,” explains Fashion for Good. The polyester team includes the catalytic funder Laudes Foundation, along with Adidas, Bestseller, C&A, PVH Corp., Target and Zalando. Also affiliated with the team are Arvind Limited, the Fabrics Division of W. L. Gore & Associates and Teijin Frontier. On the chemistry side, the firms Cure Technology, Garbo, Gr3n and Perpetual are among the recycling innovators selected to apply chemical processes to post-consumer textile waste. “The project aims to validate the technologies and the scaling potential; prompting further implementation/offtake agreements to drive chemical recycling in the industry and mobilize more funding into the technology,” Fashion for Good explains. This is not your parents’ fabric recycling The Fashion for Good polyester team already has a running start. Cure Technology, for example, has a pilot plant up and running. Its chemical-based process can recycle other plastics in addition to polyester textiles, including PET bottles, films, and carpets. The diversified firm Garbo has formed extensive industry contacts since its roots in 1997 within the field of materials recovery for the semiconductor industry. Among its current collaborations is the Reciplast initiative aimed at plastics used in the packaging and auto industries. Garbo states that its “ChemPET” process is “able to treat most of the PET-based waste that is currently not recoverable.” The process yields a building block called BHET (bis-hydroxy-ethylene-terephthalate). Once purified, BHET can be used in place of virgin petrochemical inputs. The firm Gr3n demonstrates a similar level of cutting edge-technology. Its energyefficient process takes place in microwave-assisted reactors. “We can obtain terephthalic acid (TPA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) starting from bottles and textile in less than 10 minutes and working at less than 200°C,” the company notes. More bad news for oil and gas stakeholders Rounding out the innovation team is Perpetual, which emphasizes that its chemical “deconstruction” process yields a drop-in replacement for virgin petrochemicals. “…the filtered ester stream is ready to be reformed into long repetitive chains (i.e. polyester) using the same equipment and comparable process conditions as would be used for conventional petrochemicals; except, in this case, the source material is used post-consumer bottles and not environmentally harmful new crude oil petrochemical derivatives,” Perpetual explains. That emphasis on drop-in replacement should be a warning sign for those hoping to keep demand for oil, natural gas, and coal humming along. Fossil energy stakeholders are depending on increasing demand for plastic and other petrochemicals to stay afloat in future years, now that both the power generation and the transportation markets have begun to show signs that rapid decarbonization is immanent. However, plastics are no longer a sure thing. The trend towards reducing fossil energy and petrochemical dependency already shows signs of accelerating in the power generation and transportation markets. With partnerships like Fashion for Good, the fabric recycling movement is poised to disrupt the global textile market as well.
Source: Triple Pundit
Notwithstanding the Covid 19 pandemic, Bangladesh has increased its apparel exports to the US. In a major development, Bangladesh has overtaken China in terms of growth in apparel exports to the US in the first 10 months of this year, Dhaka Tribune reported. Read all the latest updates on COVID-19 here. Besides China, Dhaka has also surpassed Vietnam and Indonesia. While Bangladesh's exports rose by 27 per cent, China's grew by 25 per cent. According to the news organisation, an Otexa report has revealed that uninterrupted production has enabled Bangladesh to take lead amid many US buyers shifting their orders away from the Southeast Asian countries due to their production disruptions. "With the reboot of economic activities in the US after the pandemic situation turned the corner, Americans have started releasing pent-up demand, especially for clothing and footwear," the report said. Also read: Bangladeshi women --the driving force behind Dhaka's economic turnaround Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry has not only contributed in the overall growth story but has also created four million jobs, majority of whom are women. Meanwhile, the World Bank said that improving the manufacturing sector's productivity will be crucial for Bangladesh, as it is now gearing up to exit the list of least developed countries (LDC). In 2010, women comprised about 25 per cent of the total workforce…
Source: Daily Hunt
Hyosung Fashion Design Centre (FDC) has released its new Autumn/Winter 2022/2023 textile trends, giving a sneak preview of what major intimate and swimwear brands will incorporate into their collections in 2022. Sustainability, comfort, adaptability and texture are key textile trends suited to their range of 100 per cent recycled regen performance fibres. To better assist brands and retailers with their design and product development needs, Hyosung, a major textile solutions provider, established its Fashion Design Centre–an interactive fashion studio that spans the US, Europe and Asia surveying cutting-edge brands and retailers, and researching consumer insights, Hyosung said in a press release. The three Mega Trends as per the company are Big City Wanderers, Maximal Techniques and Sensual Moments. Mega-Trend 1 Big City Wanderers - Refined basics for all seasons and categories will offer versatility and adaptability. It’s all about making things smarter, rather than making more. Sub-trends include: • Trans seasonal Basic: Due to ongoing lifestyle shifts, a need for trans seasonal basics has increased, leading basic wear to evolve into more sophisticated iterations. • Daily Texture: Classic textures such as rib, waffle, or crepe jersey gain importance in the casual wear market. Knitted with functional yarns, these familiar textures evolve into must-have essential pieces offering versatility. • Versatile City: Consumers expect purchases to have practical function for multiple uses. Everyday clothing made with functional fabrics that adapt to changing environment will provide reassurance. Mega-Trend 2 Maximal Techniques - With high functional fabric developments and need of basic better items fast tracked due to the global pandemic, demand for high-performing essentials is growing. Sub-trends include: • Thermoregulation: As activities shift between different environments and needs, consumers seek core items that adapt to changing temperatures. Cooling and warming techniques will play a key role. • Move Booster: Consumers will increasingly expect fabric innovations and comfort stretch as a given, not only for performance wear, but also in core items as well. Update core pieces by emphasizing comfort and support. • Tough Layers: As more consumers resume their outdoor activity, apparel needs to work harder to withstand all the elements. Lighter, more durable and protective layers will become essential for outdoor apparel. Mega-Trend 3 Sensual Moments: Invite physical and emotional comfort - and offer enhanced soft touch to sooth anxious consumers. Sub-trends include: • Relief Softness: Consumers who are increasingly craving comfort and wanting to feel secure, have increased their need for soft, comfortable fabrics. • Cozy Plush: Pile fabric, a must item for winter, will be upgraded with soft-touch and eco-friendly fabrics. • Decorative Textile: Decorative textile with soft touch approaches consumers emotionally. “It is clear that sustainability, versatility, and performance along with interesting textures for a tactile experience, are key textile drivers for next autumn/winter,” said Lewis Hong, team manager Hyosung Fashion Design Centre. “We are fortunate to have a broad range of options across our elastane, nylon and polyester portfolio available to meet these forecasted textile trends.” Hyosung’s range of GRS-certified, 100 per cent recycled creora regen spandex, Mipan regen nylon and regen polyester are unique in that they also incorporate performance properties that help brands retailers tell a distinctive story. For instance, Hyosung’s creora regen fresh delivers a sustainable freshness with anti-odour benefit. It’s Mipan regen aqua-X nylon and regen Askin polyester offers a cooling performance. Hyosung’s chlorine resistant properties of creora highclo can protect swimwear fabrics and extend their life – making them more durable in a harsh swimming pool environment. “As a textile solutions provider, we are grateful to work and collaborate with the entire value chain to help our partners keep innovating and delivering products their consumers want,” said Hong.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
