The Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) announced on Friday has added the Prime Minister Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel Parks (PM MITRA) scheme as an additional scheme eligible for benefits under the Common Service Provider Scheme of the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme (EPCG).
Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, said on Friday that between 2015 and 2020, the government gave a special Advance Authorisation Scheme for export of articles of apparel and clothing accessories. Under the scheme, it allowed duty-free import of input fabric, including inter-lining for shipping articles of apparel and clothing accessories. Exporters were eligible for all industry rate of Duty Drawback, for non fabric inputs. This scheme has been extended, under the new FTP, for apparel and clothing sector to facilitate prompt execution of export orders and exporters can now self-declare.
Four more towns of export excellence are added to the list of 39 towns. The aim is to give thrust to cluster-based economic development. These are Faridabad for apparel, Moradabad for handicrafts, Mirzapur for handmade carpets and dari, and Varanasi for handloom and handicrafts. These towns get global recognition and brand credibility; financial assistance for marketing under the Market Access Initiative Scheme; visit to trade fairs/exhibitions, capacity building and technological services; and common service provider facility under EPCG scheme that helps increase competitiveness of entire cluster by enabling common use of capital goods for exports.
Naren Goenka, chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council, said extension of the special Advance Authorisation Scheme for apparel and clothing on self-declaration basis will enable more exporters to use it.
