New Delhi : The Finance Ministry has announced a special refund drive from Thursday to expedite Goods and Services Tax (GST) related refund claims from exporters. The drive will continue till June 14. The announcement has come at a time when exporters have alleged that there were refunds of over ₹20,000 crore pending on account of IGST (Integrated Goods & Services Tax) and ITC (Input Tax Credit). A statement from the Ministry said refunds of GST have been a concern for both the Government and trade for the past several months. So far, a total of ₹30,000 crore have been sanctioned to clear the dues. “Contrary to the press reports that there has been a dip in refund sanction after the first Refund Fortnight in March 2018, the refund sanctioned during May is to the tune of ₹8,000 crore. Refund claims to the tune of ₹14,000 crore (₹7,000 crore on the IGST side and ₹7,000 crore on account of ITC) are pending with the Government as on date, as against the figure of ₹20,000 crore projected by FIEO in the press reports,” it said. Accordingly, the second special drive has been organised which will facilitate all types of refund claims in which Customs, Central and State GST officers will try to clear all GST refund applications received on or before April 30. This will include refunds of IGST paid on exports, refunds of unutilised ITC and all other GST refunds submitted in prescribed form (FORM GST RFD-01A). The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is implementing a solution whereby the refunds held in GSTN, in cases where the exporters have mistakenly declared their export supplies as domestic supplies, would now be transmitted to Customs EDI System. A circular dated May 29 has been issued to set in a procedure to resolve problems. “On receipt of the records from GSTN, the Customs’ system would automatically process the refunds for sanction, if no other errors are committed by exporters,” the statement said. The Ministry has appealed to all GST refund claimants to approach their jurisdictional tax authority for disposal of any of their refund claims submitted on or before April 30., which are still pending. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has welcomed the move. It’s Director-General Ajay Sahay said the decision to introduce the clearance drive is the most welcome move as it will accelerate the process of refund. “Exporters should come forward to take maximum advantage of it. Software, technical and procedural constraints should be addressed to make it successful so that we start on a clean slate with zero carry forward balance,” he said.
Clarity on refunds
Commenting on the development, Pratik Jain, Partner & Leader, Indirect Tax, at PwC, said the circular for refund of IGST paid on exports allows refund even in case of mismatch of tax liability on exports of goods disclosed in GSTR 3B and GSTR 1. Another circular on refunds issued under the CGST Act clarifies that refund of accumulated credit of GST compensation cess will also be granted to exporters along with the refund of accumulated credit of CGST, SGST and IGST even if the end product does not attract compensation cess. “This will help a number of exporters where some of the inputs attract compensation cess but there is no output cess liability. Another welcome clarification is that the exporters of exempted or non-GST goods do not need to submit LUT or bond for exports (though they may need to comply with similar requirements under excise or customs Act) and such exporters will also be eligible to claim refund of unutilised GST credit. This should help in reducing the documentation requirements for such exporters and clearly allows for refund of ITC,” Jain said.
Source: Business Line
The government has hastened the GST refund process for exporters and may clear all pending dues in the coming weeks. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has directed its field officers to monitor refund claims closely and ensure timely disbursals following a marathon meeting of concerned ministers with industry bodies over the issue. Official sources said Piyush Goyal, who has taken temporary charge of the finance ministry, and textiles minister Smriti Irani had long meeting with export promotion councils (EPCs) and industry associations to resolve the issue of pending refunds which have been hurting exporters. The two ministers had a four-hour brainstorming session between 11 am and 3 pm on May 27 on easing the problems faced by the exporter community. They reviewed the processes and solved the nagging problems under the aegis of Arun Jaitley, the Union finance and corporate affairs minister, who is recovering from a kidney transplant. Following this, the CBIC has laid down a process to address the issue of mismatch in refund claims and expedited their disbursals. In a circular to all principal chief commissioners and director generals, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs said exporters whose refunds are stuck have committed mistake while filing GSTR-1 and 3B. Besides, there are certain cases where they have ―short paid‖ integrated GST (IGST) vis-a-vis their liability declared in GSTR-1. In view of the above, following procedure is being prescribed to overcome the problem of refund blockage. This would be an interim solution subject to undertakings/submissions of CA certificates by exporters… And post refund audit scrutiny,‖ the indirect tax body said. Because of the mismatch in GSTR-3B and GSTR-1, GST Network (GSTN), the company handling the I-T backbone for the new indirect tax regime, could not transmit records to customs EDI system and consequently IGST refunds could not be processed, it said. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) on Tuesday said that refunds of over Rs 20,000 crore are pending on account of IGST and ITC (input tax credit). Beginning Thursday, the CBIC would start the second phase of ‗special refund fortnight‘ to fast-track clearances of refund to exporters. In the first phase of refund fortnight observed between March 15 and March 30, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had cleared refunds totalling Rs 17,616 crore. This comprised Rs 9,604 crore of integrated GST refunds, Rs 5,510 crore ITC refund by the Centre and Rs 2,502 crore ITC refund by the states. As delay in refunds results in severe liquidity problems for exporters, provisional refund of 90 per cent should be sanctioned within 7 days of filing as per the statutory provisions. Any deviation with the statutory timelines can be taken to Court by way of writ petitions especially in case there is a considerable delay. Special refund drives initiated by the government is a welcome move but should be implemented in spirit,‖ said Abhishek A Rastogi, partner at Khaitan & Co.
Source: Financial Chronicle
New Delhi, May 30 (KNN) Talking about the Indian technical textile industry, Dr Kavita Gupta, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textile, Government of India, said that most of the industries in textile sector are unaware about the government schemes and benefits that they are offering to the industries. She was speaking at the industrial meet organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and industry (FICCI). The keynote speakers at the meet spoke about the ‗Challenges and Opportunities in Indian Technical Textile Industry.‘ The meet, which saw a gathering of around 80 participants associated with the textile industry from and around Punjab, had a riveting discussion about the current state of the textile industry and what steps need to be taken to ensure continuous growth in the sector. Focusing on creating awareness about the technical textile sector Gupta, said technical textile was a sunrise sector in India. Unfortunately, growth in technical textiles is not as encouraging as expected. The government is providing benefits for textile sector but most industries are unaware of it,‖ said Gupta. Highlighting the benefits that government offers to the industry, she said the garment industry had more subsidy than other industries that include a 25 per cent of subsidy, 12 per cent EPF, income tax benefit, import duty waiver and some more benefits enjoyed by the garment industry. Talking about present industry, Mukul Verma, secretary, sports goods manufacturers and exporters association stated that the government should relax norms for the industry so that they can expand their areas. He also demanded park for the sports good industry in Jalandhar. For holding joint meetings for research and development project, he said a well-connected place for sports goods industry with proper roads, electricity and sewerage should be there. During the industrial meet, the traders highlighted the need for government to pay attention to import duty as well. Indian industry had to pay 10 per cent import duty to send items outside the country whereas Pakistan and Bangladesh had zero import duty, they said. FICCI hosted an industrial meet ahead of ‗Technotex 2018‘ which will be the seventh edition of international exhibition and conference on technical textiles to be held from June 28 to 29 at Bombay exhibition centre.
Source: KNN
Kolkata: The state government is going to organise a synergy for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles sector. If everything goes as planned then the synergy is going to get organised in September. According to the sources in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles department, there was a detailed discussion in this connection. But final decision on the date and other aspects of the synergy will be taken in meetings to be held soon. It has been learnt that the event is going to be held in Biswa Bangla Convention Centre. The final decision on the venue is also yet to be taken. A senior official of the department said: "It has been finalised that the synergy is going to take place in September itself and the rest of the aspects are going to be finalised soon." There will be discussions in the synergy on different issues related to the sector and at the same time, there will be a platform for the direct discussions on different issues that will ensure sharing of knowledge. It may be mentioned that the Mamata Banerjee government has taken several steps for the development of the MSME sector in the past seven years. Now, the synergy is going to help the entrepreneurs from the sector to grow their businesses. It may be mentioned that a major step was taken to ensure online pollution clearance and at the same time, the website www.silpasathi.in was also introduced for the benefit of the entrepreneurs. Moreover, the online application for fiscal incentive through www.wbmsme.gov.in was introduced in 2017. The MSME department also introduced the "Service With a Smile" (SWAS) app to extend online support to entrepreneurs.
Source: Millenium Post
A startup is partnering with municipalities to provide curbside collection of textiles and electronics, two streams rarely touched by traditional curbside haulers. In February, Curb My Clutter (CMC) began serving a Philadelphia suburb with an on-demand collection service. It is adding new communities and expects its service area to include 100,000 homes by June. There‘s a significant opportunity for us to extract additional value out of the households,‖ said Bob Anderson, the company‘s vice president of business development. Our goal is to try to mine the sequestered assets that are laying latent in households and repurpose them into the circular economy. Anderson recently spoke with Resource Recycling about how CMC‘s service goes beyond the drop-off strategies, which the e-scrap and textile recycling industries rely on today, to acquire residential material.
Curbside collection (sort of)
CMC is not the first curbside service for scrap electronics or textiles. New York City in October 2016 first launched curbside e-scrap collection, and the program has been growing since. Additionally, a textiles recycling company called Simple Recycling has provided curbside service without charge to residents or municipalities. On regular garbage and recycling collection days, Simple Recycling drives collection routes in participating cities, gathering bags of clothes and household goods left at the curb. CMC‘s software allows residents to text pickup‖ to a phone number to register and schedule a pick-up. They can request a pick-up at their door, which prevents scavengers from stealing valuable equipment and devices bearing sensitive data from the curb. We‘re not really doing curbside in the sense that I want it sitting at the street,‖ Anderson said. We‘re actually going to the door or we‘re going to the garage and that‘s where we‘re picking the material up. I don‘t want it down at the curb, because I don‘t want it to get scavenged. When residents schedule a pick-up, they‘re asked to provide descriptions and photos of the items to be collected. Providing pictures unlocks rewards such as store discounts and gift cards. The information helps CMC optimize collections and understand exactly what it‘ll have available to sell to its downstream processors. The information helps fetch better prices, Anderson said. If you‘re selling … clothing to a processor, it‘s one conversation if you say, ‗I‘ve got 20,000 pounds of clothing. What‘s that worth?‘ Twenty-five cents a pound, right? However, if I have that same conversation and say, I‘ve got 20,000 pounds of clothing and I know there‘s 500 pairs of jeans,‘ and I can tick off the list of what‘s in that stream, that raises the confidence level for somebody to say, You know what, that stream is worth 30 cents.' So far, by weight, about 70 percent of what‘s been collected is electronics and 30 percent textiles, Anderson said. The majority of pick-ups involve some number of items in both categories.
Adding communities
Software work for the CMC platform was started in 2016 at the direction of Ron Gonen, co-founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, a group that invests corporate money in the U.S. recycling system. Closed Loop Ventures, an arm of Closed Loop Partners, first announced in March 2017 it had invested in CMC. Anderson, who has decades of experience with recycling companies and has served on a number of industry boards, joined CMC in spring 2017. In March 2017, CMC began a pilot program with an independent hauler serving communities in the Philadelphia area. It gave CMC a chance to debug and hone the software. The company‘s first municipal partner, Woolwich Township, N.J., came on board in February 2018, Anderson said. Other New Jersey communities will begin service this month: Gloucester Township on May 14 and the city of Westfield and Swedesboro Township on May 21. All are within a half-hour drive of downtown Philadelphia, except for Westfield, which is located in northern New Jersey closer to Newark. Anderson said current partner municipalities are receiving a share of revenue from materials sold, and they‘re enjoying landfill avoidance benefits and any increased grant money available in their state (New Jersey allocates grant funds to municipalities based on their past recycling performance). The current programs are structured for Curb My Clutter to gain insight into our program and test community engagement tools,‖ Anderson said. We are harvesting a lot of valuable information on how residents in a community use the program. In the future, municipalities will pay a fee to CMC for each successful pick-up. Additionally, CMC will continue to bring in revenue from material sales. With a half-dozen total employees, CMC currently owns trucks and employs drivers for collection.Our future plans are to contract collection services and leverage collection assets that are already available and underutilized,‖ Anderson said. ―At this early stage, it‘s important for CMC to control the entire customer experience. Curb My Clutter is committed to understanding our systems and products before we release those responsibilities to any third party.‖
Source: Resource Recycling
A day after the apex exporters body stated that the industry was waiting to receive a massive Rs 200 billion worth of tax refunds under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime owing to disbursals slowing down, the government on Wednesday has refuted the claims. On Tuesday, the Federation of Indian Exports Organizations (FIEO) pointed out that refunds had flown smoothly till March 31, after which the pace has considerably slackened. "While claims over Rs 70 billion were cleared during March, the amount in April fell to a little over Rs 10 billion," FIEO President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said. But a detailed rebuttal, the Finance Ministry on Wednesday said the quantum of pending refunds was Rs 140 billion. "Contrary to press reports that there has been a dip in refund sanction after the first Refund Fortnight in March 2018, the refund sanctioned during May 2018 is to the tune of Rs 800 billion," the release said. It added that the government has till now sanctioned more than Rs 300 billion as refunds. "It should be noted that Rs 140 billion is what has been filed, but they are not taking into account what the exporters are not being able to file unless the government modifies its software," FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said. Also, in order to liquidate the pendency, the government is starting a second “Special drive Refund Fortnight” from Thursday onwards. The exercise would facilitate all types of Refund claims in which Customs, Central and State GST officers will strive to clear all GST refund applications received on or before April 30, the Finance Ministry has said. "The very fact that a clearance drive is being attempted and the last time it was successful in addressing a large number of cases about pending refunds, shows that under normal circumstances its not being attempted." Sahai said. However, Commerce Ministry officials claim that one of the main reasons behind the stuck refunds is that many traders have not been able to file in the correct manner.
Procedural pains continue
"Earlier the refunds were flowing on a monthly basis, but from February the government has gone in for a cumulative calculation. Now, having an error in any month is enough to disrupt the entire process and as a result, many refunds have got stuck." Ajay Sahai, FIEO Director-General said. Of the total pending refunds, Input Tax Credits constitute about Rs 130 billion while the rest is Integrated GST (IGST). Exporters have pointed out the ITC claiming process is not completely electronic and the roundabout manner in which it is organised has given rise to a lot of jokes in the exporters' community. An exporter has to first file an application online after which his cash ledger is debited. He then has to take a physical printout of the transaction and file with the tax authorities. But the overburdened tax authorities are generally not willing to accept the same quickly. "This is because current rules stipulate that from the day of acceptance of the physical copy, within the next seven days, at least 90 per cent of the tax refunds have to be released," Sahai said. Since many tax departments across the country have claimed they are running low on funds to pay back exporters, lower level officials have on many cases turned down legitimate claims, exporters allege. "We have received a demand for putting the ITC claims on a fully automatic route and are assessing it. We will incorporate all such suggestions before going for a further streamlining of the export refund mechanism in the GST," a Commerce Ministry official said.
Source: The Economic Times
NEW DELHI: India will pitch for continuing the eligibility of its 3,500-odd goods for low or zero duties in the US when commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu visits that country early next month. The US had announced in April that it would review if India’s exports need any preferential or duty-free access to its market, including mechanical and electrical machinery, organic and inorganic chemicals, plastics and vegetables as part of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). “GSP review is the main thing because our agriculture fishery industry, jewellery and carpet, among other sectors are the biggest beneficiaries of this grant,” said a commerce department official in the know of the details. Prabhu will visit the US from June 10 to 14 where he is expected to put forward India’s case during his interaction with think tanks and US Congressmen. “We will strongly argue that we qualify for this benefit and that it should not be removed,” the official added. Washington has announced eligibility review of India for the GSP, a sort of quota for each country at zero or low duty, along with that for Indonesia and Kazakhstan. India is the largest beneficiary of the GSP among developing countries at $5.6 billion due to products that get dutyfree access to the US market. The US has been looking at imports from countries with which it runs a large trade deficit, including India.
Harley Davidson, trade imbalance
Another agenda high up on Delhi’s priority list is the US’ demand for zero duties on Harley Davidson motorbikes. US President Donald Trump had earlier commented on India’s decision to reduce import duty on Harley Davidson motorcycles from 75% to 50% saying it was not enough. He sought “zero tax” on the import of motorcycles, since the US does not impose any tariff on motorcycles from India and threatened to increase the import tariff on “thousands and thousands” of Indian motorcycles to the US. However, while India is “unbound” or can increase duties since it is not committed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reduce tariffs on such high-end motor bikes, the bound duties on such bikes (under various subheadings) range between 1.4% and 2.4% for the US, which means it can’t raise import duties beyond this rate. Bound rates are the legally bound commitments on customs duty rates, which act as ceilings on the tariffs that countries can set.
Source: The Economic Times
New Delhi : International agency Moody’s Investor Services, on Wednesday, cut India’s growth forecast to 7.3 per cent for calendar year 2018. However, it has maintained the estimate for 2019 at 7.5 per cent. “The Indian economy is in cyclical recovery led by both investment and consumption. However, higher oil prices and tighter financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration,. We expect GDP growth of about 7.3 per cent in 2018, down from our previous forecast of 7.5 per cent. Our growth expectation for 2019 remains unchanged at 7.5 per cent,” the agency said in its report on ‘Global Macro Outlook: 2018-19 (May 2018 Update)’. As India imports over two-thirds of its crude requirement, any surge in crude prices has the potential to upset growth projection. According to a recent research report by SBI it is estimated that $10/bbl increase in oil price will increase import bill by around $8 billion. This, in turn, will decrease GDP by 16 bps, increase fiscal deficit by 8 bps, CAD by 27 bps GDP and inflation by 30 bps. The report, however, put a disclaimer by saying that these are model estimates and actual could be much different from them. For example, since June 2017, oil price has increased by $23/bbl, but the direct and indirect impact on CPI has only been 26 bps. Meanwhile, there is good news for 2019. “Our growth expectation for 2019 remains unchanged at 7.5 per cent,” the agency said. While adding that on the domestic front, growth should benefit from acceleration in rural consumption, supported by higher minimum support prices and a normal monsoon. It believes that the private investment cycle will continue to make a gradual recovery, as twin balance-sheet issues impaired assets at banks and corporates slowly get addressed through deleveraging and the application of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. “Ongoing transition to the new Goods and Service Tax regime could also weigh on growth somewhat over the next few quarters, which pose some downside risk to our forecast. However, we expect these issues to moderate over the course of the year,” the agency said. Like most of the international agency, Moody’s follow a system of calendar year (January-December) for growth projection while the Indian Government follows the system of ‘T+1’ i.e. fiscal year spread over two calendar years starting from April 1 (of first year) and ending on March 31 (of second year).
Source: Business Line
New Delhi : The economy is likely to grow between 7.1 per cent and 7.6 per cent during January-March quarter of financial year 2017-18. If this happens then the overall annual GDP growth rate will be higher than the 6.6 per cent projected by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) earlier. The Government will announce the growth estimate on Thursday. Independent agencies, however, have already come out with their projections. An SBI research report said the growth could be around 7.6 per cent while ICRA estimated growth at 7.4 per cent. Both these are higher than the Central Statistical Organisation’s (CSO) own estimate of 7.1 per cent.
SBI Research Report
A research report, authored by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser of SBI, said GDP growth for Q4 and FY18 is likely to spring a positive surprise. “We expect GDP growth for Q4FY18 to be around 7.6 per cent and subsequently the FY18 growth to be at 6.7 per cent,” it said adding that industry is estimated to grow at 5.2 per cent while the figure for agriculture and services would be 3.3 and 8.2 per cent respectively. The report has specific reasons for higher-than-estimated growth in each of the sector. For example, it said higher food production as per 3rd advance estimate will push growth estimate in the farm sector. For industries, it argued that the pick up in corporate Gross Value Addition (GVA) of non-finance listed companies will help higher growth while boost in trade, transport and real estate sector will help the services sector. “We expect 9.0 per cent growth in manufacturing GVA in Q4 due to smart growth in corporate GVA as both of these are strongly positively correlated. Corporate GVA which decelerated since Q3 FY17 rebounded in Q2 FY18 and exhibited positive,” the report said. It, however, cautioned that a higher-than-expected GDP growth for India “should not propel us into a false delusion of an impending rate hike cycle.” It further said Italy’s bond market suffered a steep sell-off as concerns about political turmoil in the Euro Zone’s third-biggest economy intensified. The yield on two-year Italian debt was up more than 1.5 per centage points from Monday’s close. This is also perhaps a reason of oil going off the boil in the last few days.
ICRA’s estimates
Rating agency ICRA estimates that the domestic GDP growth rate is expected to improve to 7.4 per cent in Q4 of FY18 from 7.2 per cent in Q3 of FY18, exceeding the implicit forecast of 7.1 per cent embedded in CSO’s Second Advance Estimate of National Income for 2017-18. As per ICRA, the growth of the Indian gross value added (GVA) at basic prices in year-on-year (YoY) terms is likely to record a considerable recovery to 7.3 per cent in Q4 FY18 from 6.7 per cent in Q3 FY18, thereby rebounding above 7.0 per cent after a gap of five quarters. This revival in Q4 FY2018, relative to Q3 FY2018, is expected to be broad-based, supported by an uptick in industry (to +7.7 per cent from +6.8 per cent), agriculture, forestry and fishing (to +4.5 per cent from +4.1 per cent), and services (to +7.8 per cent from +7.7 per cent). Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist with ICRA, said, “The uptick in economic activity that set in during the second half of 2017, is expected to have strengthened in Q4 of FY18, led by a healthy rabi harvest, robust volume growth in various sectors, an improvement in corporate earnings and a favourable base effect.”
Source: Business Line
Union Minister Smriti Irani today said sanctioning of pending IGST refunds will help clear dues worth Rs 2,500 crore to textiles and apparel exporters. "As vast majority of apparel units fall under MSME sector, sanction of pending IGST refund claims will invigorate the industry & give a much needed boost to exports," Irani said in a tweet. She said the sanction of pending IGST refund claims will help to clear outstanding IGST amount of approximately Rs 2,500 crore against textiles and apparel exports as enunciated by export promotion councils. "Interim solution is a big relief for exporters. Decision taken subsequent to our meeting with Export Promotion Councils on Sunday is testimony to the speed of governance & Government of India's commitment towards exponential growth of textiles sector," the Textiles Minister said. Representatives from Apparel Export Promotion Council had on Sunday raised issues related to blockage of GST refunds and delay in disbursal of Rebate on State Levies (RoSL) dues in a meeting with Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and Irani. In another tweet, the Textiles Minister said she was "grateful to dynamic @PiyushGoyal for sanctioning IGST refund claims of exporters facing blockage due to non-transmission of data between GSTN & Customs EDI System".In a circular to all principal chief commissioners and director generals, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said that exporters with refunds stuck have committed mistake while filing GSTR-1 and 3B. Besides, there are certain cases where they have "short paid" Integrated GST (IGST) vis-a-vis their liability declared in GSTR-1. Because of the mismatch in GSTR-3B and GSTR-1, GST Network (GSTN), the company handling the IT backbone for new indirect tax regime, could not transmit records to Customs EDI system and consequently IGST refunds could not be processed, it said.
Source: PTI
With a new academic year set to begin, a look at the market for school uniforms It‘s a Sunday but Subha Unnikrishnan is hard at work at her tailoring unit at Gowreesapattom. With schools set to reopen, her tailors are racing against time to finish tailoring uniforms and she is around to ensure that they are on schedule. Having dispatched a batch of uniforms for a girls‘ school in the city, she is on the go to finish the work on the uniforms of a few other schools. The market for school uniforms comes alive by April-May with most of the textile shops stocking running material of uniforms of prominent city schools or readymade uniforms for the same. Even though there is a Government directive banning more than one type of uniform in a school, that instruction is followed only in institutions following the state syllabus. Currently schools in the different streams such as CBSE, ICSE and ICGSE have more than one set of uniform, with each stream having its own uniform.
New trends
With schools experimenting with colour combinations, designs and patterns, the market has changed from what it used to be, says a staff member at Richmond, a readymade centre at East Fort. Earlier, we had just the white shirt and navy blue or green skirts for girls and white shirt and black, grey or navy blue shorts and trousers for boys. Now a student has at least four different sets of uniforms for a particular year, he says. In addition to the regular uniform, there is a PT uniform and another set to be worn on certain days. Some schools insist on T-shirts in different colours. Now shirts come with mandarin collar, placket collar or princess-peter pan collar while girls‘ uniforms vary from pinafores with a sash, to salwar-kameez-dupatta and salwar-kameez-overcoat! Most of the shops and tailors take the order in bulk. Once I get the number of students who need the uniform, we take measurements in February. By the last week of May, we supply the finished sets, says Subha. Meanwhile, it is no secret that there exists a nexus among certain schools, textile shops and tailoring units. The textile shops open counters at the schools so that parents can conveniently place the order for uniforms. A tailor, who doesn‘t want to be named, says that parents prefer buying the material from schools because that is the easy way out. Schools insist that they get it tailored from the persons they suggest. This, they say, is to ensure uniformity in the pattern,‖ he adds. In the case of girls‘ uniform, care is given to the number and width of the pleats on the pinafores and skirts, adds P.Sivanandan, who runs a textile shop at General Hospital Junction.
In the market
With readymade uniforms of all schools available in many shops, the tailoring units are facing stiff competition. Richmond, for instance, has uniforms of schools such as Christ Nagar Schools, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Loyola School and St Thomas. Styles at General Hospital Junction has been catering exclusively to schools of Holy Angels‘ Convent. Readymade uniforms are also available in stores such as Novelty, Ramachandra Textiles and Pothys among others.
The challenge is when the schools decide to change the uniforms. Unless that‘s informed in advance, bundles of unsold uniforms remain at the shops. ―A co-ed school decided to introduce divided skirts for girls. But none of our tailors could cut it properly. Finally, when we managed to stock enough skirts, the design was discontinued following protests from teachers and parents. So we ended up having bundles of unsold skirts in our shop,‖ says a distraught shopkeeper. While many schools have moved away from shirts and blouses for girls to salwar-kameez sets with dupatta, the latter is too going out of fashion. In place of that, some schools have opted for shirts with overcoats and pants. In some schools, the coats are stitched to the shirts.
Source: The Hindu
New Delhi : Minister of Road Transport, Shipping and Highways Nitin Gadkari has been one of the most consistent ‘delivering’ ministers of the BJP government by constructing a record 27 km of highways a day. In an interview to BusinessLine, he shares the top achievements of his Ministry and the unfinished agenda. Excerpts: What do you count as your top achievements in the last four years, and what is the unfinished agenda? We have done a lot of work. However, there are three most important projecs. One is the Chardham project of ₹12,000 crore stretching across 950 km that goes up to the China border in the Himalayas. That project comprising tunnels and viaducts will connect Badrinath, Kedarnath, and Gangotri and will provide all-weather connectivity that will prevent accidents that have caused thousands of deaths in the past. On that project, 60-70 per cent work is done. I would have liked to complete that strategic project before December. However, the project is stuck with the National Green Tribunal. Second, around 70 per cent work is complete on the Mansarovar Road that starts from Pithoragarh, and provides connectivity to Nepal. Third is the Ganga rejuvenation project. Of the 210 sub-projects under this, 47 water purification projects are complete. Projects to clean the Ganga, the Yamuna and their tributaries in Uttarakhand have been completed. In Delhi, almost half of the projects and several others including the one in Mathura with Indian Oil and in Patna have started. Industrial units like sugar factories and paper mills have been asked to cut their affluent discharge to zero so that the rivers remain clean. If you form the government after the 2019 general elections, what will be the top priority in infrastructure? Waterways will be our top priority. We have 7,500 km of coastline and 20,000 km of waterways. As waterways are better developed, we will see increasing use of water transport modes catamaran, hovercraft, etc to efficiently move people and goods. Waterways is the cheapest mode of transport, followed by railways and finally roads. Already, waterways are being used to export vehicles from the ports of Tuticorin, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai. This is effectively lowering the cost (landing price) of products. For instance, we are sending Ashok Leyland vehicles to Bangladesh using waterways. And this is making each vehicle cheaper by ₹10,000-15,000. The 1,680-km Varanasi multimodal project is set to be inaugurated in October. Maintenance dredging on this stretch of the Ganga will be completed by next March. Work is starting on several such projects... we will have logistics parks along the waterways just like the facilities we have along roads. The Ganga between Haldia and Varanasi will have four multimodal facilities. Once we have this in place palmolein can be brought from Haldia to Uttar Pradesh lowering the cost of oil in the process by ₹1.5 a litre. Mangoes of Uttar Pradesh can also be exported to Bangladesh and it will boost trade, in general.
How do you plan to fund all this?
Now that the major ports are in profit, we have given (some) waterways to ports. The ports can raise cheaper dollar loans on the strength of their balance-sheets. These funds can be used for waterways. Maharashtra’s waterways have been given to JN Port Trust, and that os Odisha, Jharkand, West Bengal to Paradip Port. Cabotage rules have been relaxed. Don’t you think Indian shipowners are losing out in the process? Not really. They used to get permission and not be able to move. This is like international airlines not being allowed to pick up passengers from India and have to go back empty, which is untenable. They can fly passengers from India at lower costs. Similarly, this cabotage relaxation will help lower the cost of export cargo. We are helping Gujarat’s cotton produce if it goes to Tamil Nadu in foreign flagged ships exports will increase. We have given benefits to fruit, vegetable, fertiliser, foodgrain trade through cabotage. The use of the fuel cess has been widened. Does that impact the funds availability for NHAI and waterways? Will NHAI be listed on the bourses?It will now be decided by the Finance Ministry, which is in charge of budgeting. We do not need funds immediately. Through the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) mechanism, we raised funds for road projects. For infrastructure, my vision was instead of monetising, we would have liked to raise funds from the public and given them eight per cent interest spread over 10 years. People could invest in these bonds for 10 years, and upon retirement receive funds from NHAI. Foreign investment works on Internal Rate of Return of 12 per cent, whereas at eight per cent, we could get funds at a lower cost for building infrastructure. This is lower than the cost at which we could have raised funds rom banks. But the Finance Ministry had reservation – on how we could offer higher interest than the prevailing rate. On road safety, India still remains a laggard with the highest number of accidents globally. This is probably our only failure, although the entire responsibility is not ours. There are areas in automobile engineering for improving safety. We have reduced accidents and deaths by five per cent in the last four years, though we had a target of lowering them by 50 per cent. This has been done by road engineering, constructing bypasses, service roads, crash barriers. We have invested ₹12,000 crore in this area.
Source: Business Line
India is approaching a huge window of opportunity in the form of its ―demographic dividend‖. From 2020 to 2040, India will have a large and growing section of the population in working age‖ (15 yrs to 60 yrs) giving it a bigger workforce than China‘s. Deploying this large young workforce in productive areas could potentially create huge economic output in the long run. One of the immediately available low hanging fruit with quick results is in low-end manufacturing like apparel, footwear, and leather. Currently, China has a huge 40% market share in apparel exports. India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam appear in a distant 3% to 5% range
Source: UN Comptrade data
As per most industry reports though, due to rising labour costs, China is slowly moving away from apparel industry and shifting its focus to high-end manufacturing. With China vacating this space, a huge opportunity is up for grabs. India already has many strategic benefits which could be leveraged to quickly grow in this space. To begin with, labour cost in India is less than one-third of that in China.
Source: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
Secondly, the raw material is easily available locally within India. India is world‘s second largest cotton producer and no import would be needed. Synthetic textiles are also manufactured locally by some of India‘s well-known business houses like Ambani (Reliance), Birla (Grasim) and Wadia (Bombay Dyeing). Today, most of it is exported as raw material to China which converts it into apparel and then exports the final value-added product. Local availability of cotton and synthetic textiles, coupled with low labour cost offers a huge advantage for apparel manufacturing in India which few other countries could match. To add to it, more jobs can be created by investing in labour-intensive industries compared to automation driven industries. The data from NSSO 2012-13 indicates that every Rs. 1 lakh (INR 100k / $1.5k) investment in apparel manufacturing is expected to create 24 new jobs compared to only 0.3 in Automobiles or 0.1 in Steel. However, most of the current apparel manufacturing companies in India are unorganized and small in size. More than 90% of apparel firms have less than 50 workers. Only 15% apparel companies in China are this small. Large Chinese apparel firms employ about 10,000 employees, some going up to 30,000 employees too. Big global customers like Levi‘s, H&M, GAP etc. are not likely to procure from such smaller companies in India. Hence, a structured policy on creating large local manufacturers in sectors like leather, apparel & footwear could go a long way in creating high volume jobs in India. In step 1, the government could invite big Indian textile companies like Bombay Dyeing, Grasim, Reliance etc. to take over these smaller units and merge them into large apparel manufacturing entities with economies of scale. Using the raw material which they already produce on their own, they could manufacture apparel in India and export large quantities to big global customers in US and EU. As indicated by industry reports, many US fashion companies are already looking for alternative sourcing destinations beyond China. In step 2, the government could set up apparel manufacturing zones in populous regions of eastern India (UP, Bihar etc.), as they offer a large pool of human capital and the industry demands low skill level with low training cost. The government could also extend tax breaks for apparel industry as this will enable large-scale job creation. In step 3, the government could also invite large apparel companies from China to start manufacturing in India. These companies already have an existing customer base. They could shift manufacturing to India and export from here. Benefits for China include low labour cost with easy raw material availability which keeps them competitive. Benefits for India include high volume job creation, higher economic activity and increased export revenue resulting in higher GDP. This would be a win-win for both Asian economies.
Source: OpiIndia
New Delhi: India’s Reliance Industries Ltd, owner of the world’s biggest refining complex, plans to halt oil imports from Iran, two sources familiar with the matter said, in a sign that new US sanctions are forcing buyers to shun oil purchases from Tehran. Reliance’s move, expected to take effect in October or November, came after US President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear agreement this month and ordered the reimposition of US sanctions on Tehran. Some sanctions take effect after a 90-day “wind-down” period ending on August 6, and the rest, notably on the petroleum sector, after a 180-day “wind-down period” ending on November 4. India has said it does not follow US sanctions but companies with links to the US financial system could be liable to penalties if they do not comply. Reliance, an Indian conglomerate controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has significant exposure to the financial system of the United States, where it operates some subsidiaries that are linked to its oil and telecom businesses among others. Reliance, whose modern refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat can process about 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, has told officials of the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) that the firm would stop oil imports from Tehran in October or November, one of the sources said. A second source said the company could halt imports from Iran earlier than that if European nations and Tehran failed to salvage the nuclear deal. This source said that some insurance companies have asked Reliance to end exposure to Iran before November. Global insurers have already warned about doing business with Iran while some shipping lines have said they would not take new bookings for Iran. The United States has threatened to impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran. In the interim period until it stops buying Iranian oil, Reliance has asked NIOC to supply Iranian oil in vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), the sources said. The sources did not wish to be identified as the matter is sensitive. Reliance did not respond to an email from Reuters seeking comment. In 2017, Reliance’s oil imports from Iran surged by about 45 per cent to 67,000 bpd, according to ship tracking data. In Jan-April 2018, the company has imported about 96,000 bpd.
Rethinking dealings
Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal has spurred global insurers and other companies to rethink their dealings in Iran as they await further guidance from the United States and European Union. Earlier this month French energy giant Total said it might quit a multi-billion-dollar gas project if it could not secure a waiver from US sanctions. Italy’s Eni, which last June signed a provisional agreement with Tehran to conduct oil and gas feasibility studies, has said it had no plans for new projects in Iran. Reliance, which deals with some of the top-notch foreign bankers with huge exposure to the US financial system, exports fuel to the United States and imports ethane from there for its petrochemical plants. Trade sources have said Reliance recently bought up to 8 million barrels of US crude. After a gap of six years, Reliance resumed purchases from Iran in 2016 when Western powers eased restrictions on trade with Iran in return for the OPEC member agreeing to end its disputed nuclear programme. During previous sanctions NIOC waived a condition for its oil buyers to open letters of credit. Since the lifting of sanctions, it has been selling oil in euros, a move that has allowed companies to temporarily continue dealing with Iran, despite the US move to reimpose sanctions. Iran is also offering deep discounts on sales to recoup market share in Asia, lost to key rivals Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The company’s global depository receipts are traded in the US market. It is also the first Asian company to float 50- and 100-year bonds on the US debt market, according to its annual report.
Source: Asianage
The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has alerted all its offices on the pitfalls of dealing with companies carrying out trade with Russia and Iran which are battling US sanctions. Large corporate branches handling oil import payments to Iran have been told to inform Indian refiners that the bank will not be able to entertain such transactions from November 4 if the existing sanctioned regime continues. All branches have been directed to refrain from taking new exposure in any form, such as letter of credit and bank guarantee, for any transaction related to Iran with immediate effect, according to a SBI internal communique, dated May 25. The bank’s branches have to invariably obtain prior clearance from the compliance division before handling transactions related to Russia (and a few other countries) in a special format and conduct higher level of due diligence before taking any credit exposure. The US this month withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions that were suspended under the 2015 accord. However, addressing a news conference this week Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that the country would follow only sanctions by the United Nations, and not unilateral sanctions by a country. According to a news agency report, Iran remained the third-biggest oil exporter to India during April 2017-February 2018, while Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia as top supplier. The April 2018 report said that drawn by incentives offered by Tehran, Indian state refiners plan to double oil imports from Iran in 2018-19. Though low-valued trade transactions, which are typically below the radar and difficult to track, may be overlooked by US authorities, Indian banks, particularly lenders with operations in the US, can come under the glare for settling trade payments with sanctioned entities in dollar. The SBI circular is silent on whether the US currency can be used to settle the trades with Russia and Iran. “The US government frowns upon dollar payments for trade with sanctioned entities. Doing a third-country trade can be complicated while using another international currency like euro as most European financial institutions have operations in the US. Banks, like some of the Turkish lenders, have faced action in the past… Settling trade in rupee/rouble with Russia would create the problem of accumulation of rupees in the designated account with Russia exporting high-valued items like defence items and running a trade surplus with India,” said a senior official of another bank. According to another banker, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks about their preparedness and comfort in handling trades in an environment of economic sanctions on Russia. “The regulator would not push banks to transactions which could hurt them later. The government also is in touch with banks, trying to figure a way out. As of now, many private sector banks are informing their cus are informing their customers about the difficulties in handling payments for trade with Russia,” said another banker. SBI, in the internal circular, told its offices that all SWIFT transmissions (like letters of credit, bank guarantees etc) should contain full disclosure of all the parties to the transactions, including the purpose of such transaction. SWIFT is the global financial messaging service banks use to move millions of dollars and documents across borders every day. “This is critical to ensure that all counterparties get scrubbed in our OFAC filters to guard against any possible violations,” said the circular. OFAC, or the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department, administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries and regimes. SBI branches have been told not to enter into any correspondence with anyone other than the compliance cell for clarification on transactions to sanctioned countries and entities.
Source : The Economic Times
IndusInd Bank and Uco Bank have become the first set of banks to have asked exporters to wind up their exposure to Iran by early August, after the US ordered re-imposition of sanctions against the Islamic country, leaving them in difficult straits. The department of commerce could soon take up the matter with the department of financial services to ensure payments of exporters and other financial dealings are not obstructed, sources told FE. Exporters apprehend if more banks follow suit, trade dealings with Iran will be hit. In a letter dated May 24 reviewed by FE, IndusInd Bank has asked exporters to offer a declaration that the entire export transaction, involving letter of credit, would be over by August 6. Similarly, in a letter dated May 29, Uco Bank told exporters: “Payments will also be subjected to any trade restrictions/currency restrictions being put in place by the US post 08-05-2018 and as per the government of India guidelines on the date of claim.” Federation of Indian Export Organisation director general Ajay Sahai confirmed the exporters had got letters from the two banks and said they needed clarity on the issue. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced withdrawal from an Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran and ordered sanctions to be re-imposed. The Obama administration had in 2015-16 brokered the lifting of UN sanctions in concert with the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia, which made it easier for countries across the globe to trade with the Islamic nation more freely. Around 2011-12, a rupee-rial mechanism was put in place where up to 45% of India’s purchases of Iranian crude could be effected in rupees in exchange for items like rice, wheat and medicines that were not sanctioned by the UN. A Mumbai-based star export house, having a supply contract worth Rs 9 crore with Iran that is to be executed in the next two months, has got such a letter from Uco Bank. Payments from an Iranian importer usually take around two months. Subsequent to the imposition of sanctions on Iran in 2011-12, Indian exporters mainly rice suppliers were receiving payments using the oil payments held in rupee balances at Uco Bank. The sanctions drove down India’s oil imports from Iran. Consequently, New Delhi’s trade deficit with Tehran narrowed from $11.4 billion in 2011-12 to almost $3.5 billion in 2015-16, when the sanctions were lifted. India’s trade deficit with Iran again widened to $8.5 billion in 2017-18. Much of the payments to Indian suppliers since 2015-16 were being made in euro, according to rice exporters. The traders have now pitched for a swift revival of the rupee-rial mechanism.
Source: Financial Express
MUMBAI The Finance Minister Mr Piyush Goyal and the Textile Minister Mrs. Smriti Zubin Irani held a meeting with Texprocil and other Textile Export Promotion Councils and Associations recently to discuss issues relating to matters of taxation and promotional schemes affecting textile exports. In a statement Mr. Ujwal R. Lahoti Chairman Texprocil expressed his sincere gratitude to the Ministers of Finance and Textiles for having patiently listened to the issues which are impacting exports of cotton textiles from India. Mr. Lahoti pointed out in the meeting that even though the exports of cotton textiles have shown an increase of 7% during the previous financial year 2017- 18 and reached US $ 11 bn it has the potential to reach US $ 20 Bn in the next 5 years if the Government were to support the sector with a few policy measures like refund of embedded taxes (which has also been recognised by the Economic Survey for the year 2017-18) extending the innovative Refund of State Levies (ROSL) scheme which refunds state levies like VAT on fuel used in transportation (raw materials finished goods and factory workers) and generation of captive power Mandi tax Duty on electricity Stamp duties on export documents etc. and expedite the refund of pending GST and IGST claims and ROSL of the exporters. Texprocil Chairman lauded the Ministers of Finance and Textiles for agreeing to clear the dues arising out of ROSL refunds in 15 days by providing necessary funds authorising the Pillai Committee on Duty Drawback to examine issues of embedded taxesfor all textile products and reviewing ROSL rates for Made-ups issuing instructions for including yarn and fabrics under the scheme look at alternate Export Promotion Schemes in consultation with the Ministry of Commerce and also ensure that all pending claims under GST and IGST are refunded within a period of next 15-20 days. Mr. Lahoti pointed out that as India was blessed with the entire textile value chain a holistic and integrated approach needs to be adopted so that all the segments in the value chain like yarn fabrics made-ups get the benefit of the tax and incentive benefits. B y ensuring an integrated approach India can increase its share in world trade in cotton textiles from the present 10% to 15% in the next five years. This will in turn spur higher investments and employment generation he added.
Source: Tecoya Trend
The rupee today staged an impressive comeback after yesterday's rout and ended with a solid 43 paise gain against the American currency at 67.43 after traders unwound bullish dollar positions. Forex market sentiment swung back in favour of the domestic currency after the initial wave of volatility on the back of easing political uncertainty in Italy and expectations of robust GDP growth. Besides, massive unwinding of long dollar positions by exporters and corporates also lifted the overall trading mood. A sharpNSE 0.00 % US dollar retracement slide, despite a goodish pickup in the US treasury bond yields ahead of key US growth and employment data, also supported the recovery momentum. The government will release gross domestic product (GDP) data for the March quarter and 2017-18 fiscal tomorrow. India's GDP had expanded by 7.2 per cent in the third quarter and regained the status of the world's fastest-growing major economy in the October-December quarter. India's economy is back on track at this juncture and expected to gradually rise with continued implementation of major structural reforms, a forex dealer said. Meanwhile, crude prices climbed to USD 76 a barrel, largely due to tight supplies despite expectations that OPEC and its allies will pump more in the second half of 2018. Global benchmark Brent crude has dropped almost by USD 5 from a 3-1/2-year high of USD 80.50 a barrel on May 17, after reports that OPEC and Russia may increase supply at a June meeting. Brent crude futures, an international benchmark, was trading up at USD 76.08 a barrel, in early Asian trade. The Indian unit opened flat with negative bias 67.87 against Tuesday's close of 67.86 at the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market, largely weighed down by sustained capital outflows and weak local equities. After falling as low as 67.91 in mid-morning deals, the rupee managed to bounce back to hit session's high of 67.42, before ending at 67.43, showing a smart gain of 43 paise, or 0.63 per cent. It has now reversed all previous session's downfall. The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.6288 and for the euro at 78.1992. The dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies was up at 94.27. In the cross currency trade, the rupee also recovered against the pound sterling to end at 89.24 per pound from 89.85 and bounced back against the Japanese yen to finish at 61.92 per 100 yens from 62.31 earlier. The rupee, however, dropped against the euro to close at 78.43 as compared to 78.39 yesterday. Elsewhere, the common currency euro rebounded from its 10-month low as German retail sales rise above expectations ahead of key inflation data and also drawing support from stabilising Italian bond markets despite looming political uncertainty. The British pound also bounced back in tandem with Euro amid persistent uncertainty surrounding impending Brexit talks, against the backdrop of recent dovish BoE tilt. In forward market today, the premium for dollar continued to fall owing to sustained receiving from exporters. In forward market today, the premium for dollar continued to fall owing to sustained receiving from exporters.
Source: Financial Express
India and Indonesia on Wednesday elevated their bilateral ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) rides on a golf cart driven by Indonesian President Joko Widodo during their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. India and Indonesia on Wednesday elevated their bilateral ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and condemned terrorism in all its forms, including cross-border terror, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held "productive discussions" with President Joko Widodo. India and Indonesia also signed 15 agreements, including one to boost defence cooperation and called for freedom of navigation in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Modi, who arrived in Jakarta last night on his first-ever official visit to Indonesia, was accorded a red carpet welcome on his arrival at the Merdeka palace, one of the presidential palaces in Indonesia, this morning. The two leaders discussed areas of strategic cooperation, ways towards ensuring better economic ties, closer cultural relations as well as regional and global issues of mutual interest. "Held productive discussions with President Joko Widodo. Glad that ties between India and Indonesia are gaining strong momentum. We discussed areas of strategic cooperation, ways towards ensuring better economic ties and closer cultural relations between our nations," Modi tweeted. In a joint press statement after the meeting, Modi said India and Indonesia have agreed to elevate their ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He said that India's Act East Policy and the vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region) matches Widodo's Maritime Fulcrum Vision. "As mutual partners and neighbours, our worries are similar. It is our duty to ensure maritime security and safety. This is also for the safety of our economic interests," he said. "In the Indo-Pacific region, we, as partners, have mutual interests in each other's progress and well-being and that's why we have agreed upon mutual vision and principles for the Indo-Pacific region," he said. Both leaders reiterated the importance of achieving a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region where sovereignty, international law, freedom of navigation and overflight, sustainable development and an open and fair trade and investment system are respected, the statement said, amidst China's flexing of its military muscles in the East and South China seas. Modi also strongly condemned the recent terror strikes on three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya, and said India stands resolutely with Jakarta in the fight against terrorism. A the joint statement, the two leaders reiterated their strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism and terror-related incidents in Indonesia and India and affirmed that perpetrators of these heinous acts must be brought to justice. They called upon all countries to work towards disrupting terrorist networks and their financing channels, and halting cross-border movement of terrorists from terror organisations as well as other terrorist groups threatening peace and security in respective region. The statement did not name any country. They also shared the view on the imperative need to eradicate radicalism and reiterated the importance of promoting peaceful pluralism. The two countries signed 15 agreements including on the cooperation in the field of defence, space, science and technology, railways and health. Modi said that India and Indonesia will double their efforts to take bilateral trade to USD 50 billion by 2025. In 2017, bilateral trade amounted to over $18 billion. Recalling the visit of ASEAN leaders in January to attend the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, Modi said India-ASEAN partnership can become a guarantee of peace not only in Indo-Pacific region but also beyond it. The joint statement said the two leaders welcomed the adoption of the 'Shared Vision on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific between India and Indonesia' with a strong belief that the two sides could develop further their cooperation in maritime sector which can be a force of immense stability in the region. "The two leaders welcomed the growing convergence in the political, strategic, defence, security and economic fields between the two countries," it said. The document, the first with any ASEAN country, outlines areas of maritime cooperation and envisages security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. They reaffirmed their commitment in the field of defence, with the signing of Defence Cooperation Agreement between two sides. The pact will further strengthen and renew the existing cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries and the region, the statement said. They agreed to further enhance mutual trust through regular meetings and staff talks between their armies, navies and air forces. They also directed officials to expand mutually beneficial collaboration between their defence industries, including for joint production of equipment. Both sides agreed to work intensively for the early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and reiterated that it needs to be comprehensive, fair and balanced with benefit to all member states. They welcomed potential cooperation in the area of peaceful use of nuclear energy and looked forward to the early renewal of an agreement on cooperation regarding the utilisation of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Both sides agreed to intensify cooperation in the fields of culture, education, tourism, films and people-to-people exchanges.
STRONGER TIES
Source : Financial Express
The State Government on Wednesday approved five investment proposals worth Rs 1,508 crore which will help create employment opportunities for 2,155 people. The Government‘s nod to the projects came during the 78th meeting of the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary AP Padhi. The SLSWCA accorded approval to IOCL to set up a polyester products manufacturing unit of 324 KTPA capacity at the textiles park in Bhadrak district with a total investment of Rs 975.10 crore in joint venture with Haldia-based MCPI Private Limited. The project will create direct and indirect employment for 185 people. The project will act as an anchor and help in supplying feedstock or raw material to the downstream technical textile industries which will come up in the textiles park. It will reportedly provide employment to more than 100,000 persons in the long run. One of the leading manufacturers of aluminium extrusions had submitted a proposal to set up a greenfield manufacturing unit at the Angul Aluminium Park with a capacity of 40,000 metric tonnes (MT) per annum. The investment outlay was Rs 200 crore with employment potential for 500 persons. The proposal was approved at the meeting. The Aluminium Park at Angul is being developed as an exclusive state-of-the-art industrial park for ancillary and downstream industries for alumina and aluminium. The park is the first-of-its-kind in the Indian sub-continent with facility for directly obtaining molten aluminium from the smelter. A Gujarat-based edible oil manufacturing company‘s proposal to set up a 750,000 tonnes per annum vegetable oil manufacturing unit at Paradip at an investment of Rs 200 crore was also approved at the meeting. The unit will create employment opportunities for 920 people directly and indirectly. The SLSWCA also approved the proposal of an Andhra Pradesh-based company which will invest Rs 71 crore to manufacture instant pasta and vermicelli and sweet potato flour. The fifth investment proposal approved by the SLSWCA was that of a Kolkata-based company which will invest Rs 62.1 crore to establish an integrated cold chain service unit at the seafood park at Deras in Khordha district. The project will have employment potential for 250 people
Source: The Pioneer
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1386.89 |
USD/Ton |
-0.22% |
5/30/2018 |
|
VSF |
2243.95 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
ASF |
3023.10 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Polyester POY |
1394.68 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Nylon FDY |
3506.18 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
40D Spandex |
5531.97 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Nylon POY |
3630.84 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
5890.37 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Polyester FDY |
1679.07 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Nylon DTY |
3163.35 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
3178.93 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
Polyester DTY |
1682.96 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2976.35 |
USD/Ton |
1.06% |
5/30/2018 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
2248.63 |
USD/Ton |
-0.14% |
5/30/2018 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
3038.69 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2353.03 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2586.78 |
USD/Ton |
0.61% |
5/30/2018 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
3132.18 |
USD/Ton |
0.50% |
5/30/2018 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2664.69 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.45 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.89 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.25 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.71 |
USD/Meter |
0.67% |
5/30/2018 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.74 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2018 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.15583 USD dtd. 30/5/2018). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
The exports in textile and clothing increased by 8.13 percent during first 10 months of current fiscal year, as compared to same period of last year. According to the latest data , the textile group’s exports of Pakistan jumped to 11.13 billion during July to April 2017-18, against the exports worth of $10.3 billion during July to January 2016-17, Radio Pakistan reported. The products that contributed in positive growth in external trade include raw cotton, knitwear, yarn, bed wear exports, towels, ready-made garments, silk and synthetic textile.
Source: Pakistan Observer
Pakistani textile sector is facing a shortage of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical used as a bleaching agent for textiles, as local manufacturers reduced it supply in the country. The price of the chemical has also shot up, following which, the All Pakistan Textile Processing Mill Association (APTPMA) has asked the government to allow its zero-rated import. Textile processing units are the major consumers of hydrogen peroxide and its manufacturers’ abrupt move of reducing its supply has created panic, said Saleem Parekh, central chairman, APTPMA. He has urged the commerce ministry to allow importing the chemical exclusively for textile processing on a zero-rated basis until the local supply picks up again, as per an APTPMA statement. Parekh added that this decision of the local manufacturers of hydrogen peroxide will result in shortage and escalate the prices further. The shortage will in turn affect textile and garment exports and may force hundreds of processing units to shut down. Pakistan requires 4500 million tons of hydrogen peroxide per month and 99 per cent of the share is consumed by the textile industry. Sitara Peroxide plant produces 2550 million ton/month, while Descon Oxychem produces 2400 million ton/month. The problem started after Sitara Peroxide cut down its production and Descon reduced its supply. The shortage is causing high price fluctuations and may affect SMEs the most. Large scale manufacturers are importing hydrogen peroxide through the Duty and Tex Remission (DTRE) scheme. (KD)
Source : Fibre2Fashion
NDO - Vietnam has a great opportunity to increase its import-export revenue through the implementation of 10 free trade agreements (FTAs) which are being utilised effectively by enterprises. FTAs signing markets all see strong growth As one of the Vietnam's key export goods, garment and textile is one of the sectors to have gained high export turnover in recent years. Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), Truong Van Cam, said that FTAs have played an important role in boosting the growth of garment and textile exports. Specifically, the VKFTA signed between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK), which took effect in 2015, has helped to expand Vietnam's textile and garment exports to the RoK. Vietnam's textile and garment export turnover to the RoK reached US$2.6 billion in 2016, up 9.5% compared to the previous year, while the export revenue was reported at US$2.9 billion in 2017, up 11.8% compared to 2016. The FTA between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union which became effective in October 2016, has also contributed to increasing Vietnam's textile and garment exports to Russia from US$84.8 million in 2015 to approximately US$172 million in 2017. In addition, the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in late 2015 has also had a positive impact on Vietnam's textile and garment exports to the ASEAN market, rising from US$1 billion in 2015 to US$1.35 billion in 2017. Similar to the Chinese market, the effects of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and China, the ASEAN-China Agreement on Trade in Goods, and the Memoranda of Understanding between Vietnam and China have all helped to improve Vietnam's textile and garment exports to China, which ballooned from US$2.2 billion in 2015 to US$3.2 billion in 2017. Textile and garment is also one of the sectors to have effectively taken advantage of FTAs to increase its export turnover. Statistics from the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that Vietnam has so far implemented 10 FTAs. In particular, all FTA signatory markets have recorded higher rates of import and export growth compared to the time before the signing of FTAs. Of those, Chile is among the markets posting the highest export growth rate with an annual growth rate of 46.68% per year. It is followed by India with an average annual growth rate of 31.58%, the RoK with an annual growth rate of 29.8% per year, and China with an average growth rate of 21.71% per year. Vietnam reported an export turnover to China of US$8.25 billion in the first three months of 2018, up 33.6% compared to the same period last year. During the period, Vietnam's export revenue to RoK also increased by 14.4% to ASEAN rose by 19.2% to Japan up by 36.9% and to India it soared by 111% among others. In addition, the number of shipments applying for a certificate of origin (C/O) to receive tax incentives has increased sharply, demonstrating the utilisation of FTA provisions. C/O issuance agencies authorised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade granted more than 216,000 sets of C/O worth over US$10.6 billion in the first quarter of 2018, up 40% in terms of value and 39% in number over the same period of 2017. The Import-Export Department affirmed that the rate of utilising FTA incentives in Vietnam is quite high compared to other countries participating in FTAs with Vietnam. However, there remains large room for enterprises to take advantage of FTAs in the future. Continuing to make good use of FTAs Vietnam's import and export activities are forecast to continue to flourish thanks to the signing, effectiveness and implementation of more FTAs. In particular, the Vietnam-EU FTA (EVFTA) is expected to be signed in 2018 which will create a turning point in the trade cooperation between Vietnam and EU countries. Accordingly, the EVFTA will create more favourable conditions for the export of goods and the expansion of Vietnam‘s market share in the EU due to commitments in cutting tariffs and opening the door to the market. Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department, Tran Thanh Hai, said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to spread information on FTA incentives, how best to take advantage of FTA preferences, rules of origin, and how to meet rules of origin to assist enterprises in making the most of signed FTAs. In addition, Vietnam should develop supporting industries to increase the localisation rate of its products and meet the rules of origin set by the markets with which Vietnam has signed FTAs. The government also needs to create more favourable conditions for enterprises to apply for and get C/O, including shortening the time of issuance of C/O simplifying the C/O issuance process providing electronic C/O declaration and expanding the pilot issuance of C/O via the Internet. It is also advisable to expand and apply the self-certification mechanism of origin while reducing the criteria of self-certification to facilitate enterprises in participating in this mechanism. "In particular, administrative reform is one of the most important activities that has facilitated trade activities over the recent years. This activity will be further promoted in the future in order to create optimal advantages for enterprises and make the most of FTAs," Tran Thanh Hai emphasised.
Source: Nhan Dhan
Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) with Ministry of Commerce & Textile (Commerce Division) and Embassy of Pakistan, Buenos Aires Argentina organized 1st Pakistan Single Country Exhibition (Emerging Pakistan)‖ in Santiago, Chile from 26th to 29th May 2018 at Estacion Mapocho. Leading Pakistani companies from textile, sports goods, surgical, pharma, handicrafts, cutlery, furniture and designer wear participated in the event. The event was aimed at promoting and strengthening Pakistan-Chile Business Interests and this event provided great opportunity for the businessmen from both the countries to develop long term business relations. The event started on 26th May 2018 (Saturday) and visited by large number of peoples every day till 29th May 2018 to experience and purchase Pakistani products. B2B between Pakistani exhibitors and Chile Businessmen was a regular feature of the event. The leading companies from the textile, sports goods, cutlery and surgical received export orders and established relations with potential buyers for long term business relations. The composite stall of Pakistan pavilion and designer wears remained the center of attraction by the visitors and so many designer / fashion wear companies showed interest to purchase fashion products of Pakistan. Ayaz Muhammad Khan, Pakistan Ambassador to Argentina invited the diplomatic and top business community on 28th May 2018 to visit the event to show them the true potential of Pakistani products. The Presidential representative for Santiago, Governor. Karla Rubilar was the chief guest of the occasion and the event was attended by ambassador of USA, Ambassador of Guatemala, Ambassador of Costa Rica, Ambassador of Vietnam, Ambassador of Ecuador, Consul General of Turkey, Consul General of Philippines, Counsel General of Thailand, Consul General of Belgium Consul General of India along with top businessmen of Chile. The chief guest along with other diplomats and guests visited stalls of Pakistani goods and praised the quality of goods especially of sports and surgical goods. She also shown great interest in the fashion wears of Pakistan displayed in the composite stall and praised the modern outlook of Pakistan Fashion Industry. She assured all possible supports to Pakistani businessmen to strengthen business ties between both the countries. The event concluded on 29th May 2018 and most of the exhibitors either get the orders for supply of goods or established contacts with potential buyers of Chile to supply Pakistani products as per their requirements. Many Pakistani exhibitors were also invited by Chile businessmen at their offices to further discuss and finalize the business deals.
Source: Pak Observer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth slowed slightly more than initially thought in the first quarter as consumer spending rose at its weakest pace in nearly five years, but activity is already picking up against the backdrop of a tightening labor market and tax cuts. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in its second estimate of first-quarter GDP, instead of the previously reported 2.3 percent pace. While business spending was stronger than initially estimated, inventory investment was far smaller than the government reported last month. The economy grew at a 2.9 percent rate in the fourth quarter. Economists expect a $1.5 trillion income tax cut package, which came into effect in January, will spur faster economic growth this year and lift annual GDP growth close to the Trump administration’s 3 percent target. Growth is also expected to get a boost from increased government spending. April data including retail sales, trade and industrial production suggest the economy regained speed early in the second quarter. Growth estimates for the second quarter are above a 3 percent rate. Economists had expected first-quarter GDP growth would be unrevised at a 2.3 percent pace. “Growth is set to rev up soon given the deficit-financed tax cuts and a big increase in federal government spending,” said Scott Hoyt, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. An alternative measure of economic growth, gross domestic income (GDI) increased at a 2.8 percent rate in the January-March quarter, the fastest since the third quarter of 2016. GDI rose at a 1.0 percent pace in the fourth quarter. The average of GDP and GDI, also referred to as gross domestic output and considered a better measure of economic activity, increased at a 2.5 percent rate in the first quarter. That followed a 2.0 percent rate of growth in the prior period. The income side of the growth ledger was boosted by after-tax corporate profits, which surged at a 5.9 percent rate last quarter after rising at a 1.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter. The government slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent effective January. Wages and salaries also got a lift from lower tax rates, increasing $119.5 billion in the first quarter, an upward revision of $3.1 billion from earlier estimates.
STRONG LABOR MARKET
Separately, the ADP national employment report on Wednesday showed private sector payrolls increased by 178,000 jobs in May after rising 163,000 in April. The data was released ahead of the government’s more comprehensive employment report on Friday. According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 188,000 jobs this month after gaining 164,000 in April. The unemployment rate is forecast unchanged at a near 17-1/2-year low of 3.9 percent. “Job growth is still strong for this stage of the expansion but slowing as businesses are having a difficult time finding qualified workers to fill open positions,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco. Steady growth and a robust labor market are seen encouraging the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month. The U.S. central bank increased borrowing costs in March and forecast at least two more rate hikes for this year. U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data as investors keep a wary eye on political developments in Italy. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies and prices for U.S. Treasuries were trading lower. Stocks on Wall Street rose. Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, braked to a 1.0 percent rate in the first quarter, rather than the previously reported 1.1 percent pace. It was the slowest pace since the second quarter of 2013 and followed the fourth quarter’s robust 4.0 percent rate. Businesses accumulated inventories at a $20.2 billion rate, instead of the $33.1 billion pace estimated last month. Inventory investment contributed 0.13 percentage point to GDP growth instead of 0.43 percentage point. The smaller inventory build bodes well for second-quarter GDP growth. The trade deficit in the first three months of the year was a bit bigger than initially thought and had no impact on the GDP growth rate. Trade was previously estimated to have added 0.20 percentage point to output. It could contribute to GDP growth in the second quarter as another report from the Commerce Department showed the goods trade deficit falling 0.6 percent to $68.2 billion in April. Business spending on equipment was revised up to a 5.5 percent growth rate in the January-March quarter from the 4.7 percent pace estimated last month. That was still a moderation in investment following double-digit growth in the second half of 2017. April durable goods data suggested business spending on equipment is likely to slow further in the second quarter. Investment in homebuilding fell at a 2.0 percent rate in the first quarter instead of being unchanged as reported last month.
Source : Reuters
HÀ NỘI — Imports of materials for textiles, leather and footwear from Canada saw a tremendous growth of 179.8 per cent to hit US$11.8 million in the first four months of 2018, reported by the statistics of the General Department of Việt Nam Customs. Only in April 2018, the import of these materials reached $497.05 million, bringing the total import value in four months to US$1.74 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 0.02 per cent. Currently, there are five major suppliers of textiles, leather and footwear materials for Việt Nam, including China, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Southeast Asia. The import from these countries combined is worth over US$100 million. Between January and April 2018, China led the turnover with over $645.95 million, accounting for 37.2 per cent of Việt Nam‘s total imports, down by 4.3 per cent against the same period last year. Republic of Korea came second with nearly $226.16 million (accounting for 13 per cent, down by 5.1 per cent), followed by Taiwan with $148.11 million (8.5 per cent, down by 11.2 per cent), the United States with $118.83 million (6.8 per cent, up by 14 per cent) and Southeast Asia with $113.55 million (6.5 per cent, up by 14.2 per cent). Notably, the import of textiles, leather and footwear materials from many markets particularly from Canada increased significantly against the same period last year. Conversely, imports fell sharply from markets such as Argentina, down by 51 per cent to $7.68 million NewZealand, down by 50.3 per cent to $4.23 million France, down by 41.6 per cent to $1.3 million Austria, down by 32.8 per cent to $0.44 million and Germany, down by 31.4 per cent to $8.44 million. — VNS
Source: Vietnam News
Back to the USA: ‗High-Tex from Germany‘ made a guest appearance at Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas in Atlanta for the second time from 22 to 24 May 2018. At the special exhibition organised by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (Bundesministerium f r Wirtschaft und Energie – BMWi) in cooperation with the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (Messeausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V. AUMA), a total of 66 companies presented technical textiles, nonwovens, textile-processing machines, smart textiles and textile-research projects to the trade visitors. The textile sector made its first appearance in the USA in 2000. This was followed by highly successful presentations in Shanghai in 2002, in Mumbai in 2007 and in Moscow in 2012. Taking ‗High-Tex from Germany‘ to Atlanta again was a very good decision. The southeast of the USA has a long tradition of textile manufacturing. It is home to many companies that are always on the lookout for innovative textiles and machines for textile production and processing‖, explained Detlev R nger, German Consul General in Atlanta during the ‗High-Tex from Germany‘ press conference. Fairs bring people together. And this was evident here in Atlanta. With the overseas exhibition programme, we give small to medium-sized companies the chance to show their products in foreign markets‖, said Patrick Specht of the Trade Fair Policy and EXPO Participations division of the BMWi. High-Tex from Germany‘ within the framework of Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas was a very good platform for our small to medium-sized companies. After Techtextil and Texprocess in Frankfurt, these two events are the second-most important editions of the trade-fair duo. High-Tex from Germany‘ came fully up to our expectations and anyone who failed to take part missed a great opportunity to be noticed‖, said Marc Lorch, Member of the Board of Zwissler Holding, who represented the participating companies as exhibitor president. Michael Metzler, Sales President of ZSK Stickmaschinen, confirmed this saying, A German pavilion of this scope makes us extremely visible. Thanks to the excellent organisation, we were also able to concentrate on promoting our company and products.‖ In addition to the appealing exhibition-stand concept and the excellent organisation, the companies taking part were particularly pleased with the high visitor standard. We regularly exhibit at Techtextil North America but taking part in ‗High-Tex for Germany‘ resulted in our best ever day at a fair here. The pavilion is a real eye-catcher‖, said Thomas Wiederer, Area Sales Manager, Br ckner Textile Technologies. ―The visitors to our exhibition stand were very interested in our products. We gained potential customers and were able to make numerous high-grade contacts. The level of interest shown in our highly innovative e-textile solutions, which are completely new in the sector, was very high. We are looking forward to the follow-up phase‖, said Andreas Lanyi, Vice President Digital Unit and Internet of Things of the Hamburg-based start-up, Lunative Laboratories. Besides gaining new customers, the focus of the companies taking part in ‗High-Tex from Germany‘ was on cultivating customer relations. ―The German pavilion in Atlanta once again gave us a good opportunity to get to know the US market better. We have had a factory in the vicinity of Atlanta for two years now and aim to expand our network in the long term‖, said Ronny Schr der, Associate Sales Director Technical and Comfort Products, Sandler. ―We like making presentations within the framework of the German pavilion very much‖, added Georg Voggenreiter, Technical Sales, Maschinenfabrik Herbert Meyer. Once again, ‗High-Tex from Germany‘ was a good starting point for cultivating contacts with our customers in the USA. The companies taking part in ‗High-Tex from Germany‘ made their presentations on around 1,300 square metres of exhibition space with their own exhibition stands, with selected exhibits on a central ‗Plaza‘, in guided tours and no less than 35 lectures. Additionally, the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research (Deutsche Institute f r Textil- und Faserforschung – DITF), the Association of the Finishing, Yarns, Woven Fabrics and Technical Textiles Industry (Industrieverband Veredlung, Garne, Gewebe und Technische Textilien – IVGT), the T bingen-Reutlingen-Zollernalb location agency and the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern U.S. provided insights into current research projects and offered information about the sector.
Source: Which PLM
Turkish business is fighting against fluctuations in exchange rates that have seen record highs recently. Many sectors that had to trade in the dollar have either pegged the exchange rate or have returned to trading in Turkish lira. In the textile sector, some companies have started trading in lira using exchange rates they themselves determined. On the other hand, tourism professionals preferred currency pegging. Some investors in shopping centers have provided discounts, while some transferred to the lira as a method of payment for rent. Fees in the home care service industry, where mainly foreigners work, have also returned to the lira. Turkey Clothing Manufacturers' Association Chairman Hadi Karasu said in this period when Turkey is going through a period of volatile currency, they took measures by converting to lira, particularly in the domestic market. "Contract manufacturers saw the rate as an opportunity and doubled the figures. We tell them that if they continue like this, they will not find jobs when things return to normal. We continue to take forward rates with banks," he said. Kararsu also said that they had made lira agreements with companies they buy raw material from. He suggested pegging the bottom rate as TL 4.2 and the top rate as TL 4.5, indicating that according to conditions, there could be upward and downward revisions in these figures. He said there was an urgent need for a mechanism that will compress currency during this period. The head of the United Brands Association (BMD), representing ready-to-wear brands, Sinan Öncel, said that the two thirds of shopping malls have pegged the exchange rate, provided at least a 30 percent discount in rent or have turned the contract into turnover rent for one year. According to information provided by Öncel, shopping malls have pegged prices between TL 3.20-4.30 per dollar and 3.80-5.20 per euro according to the number of visitors and their frequency, location and brand mix. Nizam Ali Eriş, director of an online caretaker providing service platform, said that domestic caretakers have started to replace foreign caretakers due to the increase in the exchange rate. "Currently, there is a 50-50 percent local and foreign distribution. This rate was 60 percent in favor of foreigners last year," Eriş said. Pronto Tour Chairman Ali Onaran said that the company offered discounts up to 12 percent in April and stressed that they will run operations by currency-fixing this month. "We will fix the dollar around TL 4.20 and the euro below TL 5. As long as currency volatility continues, we are obliged to fix it," he said. Onaran also pointed out that 40 percent of tour packages previously sold in the U.S. dollar are now offered in lira. He stressed that bookings in euro and dollars declined 15 to 20 percent, while bookings for the Balkans, Russia, China and Morocco increased by 25 percent, 30 percent, 12 percent and 65 percent, respectively
Source: The Daily Sabah
