ET had reported earlier citing officers that New Delhi may contemplate decreasing or fully eliminating import levies on American walnuts, almonds, apples and cranberries whereas looking for to forge commerce ties with Washington.
The textile trade wants high-quality, contamination-free cotton, which meets international compliances as uncooked materials for export-quality clothes. Eradicating the importer responsibility cannot solely be a superb negotiation instrument however will even assist make exports extra aggressive by decreasing the price on cotton imports, mentioned trade leaders.
India imposed import responsibility on cotton in February 2022. The share of the US in India's cotton imports has since diminished to an estimated 19% in fiscal 2024-25 from 40-50%. As duties made imported cotton costly, India's textile trade had shifted to comparatively cheaper Brazilian cotton to compete with Bangladesh and Vietnam, which had entry to cheaper US cotton.
“We've got misplaced numerous export of value-added cotton textile and clothes,” mentioned Ok Selvaraju, secretary-general of the Southern India Mills Affiliation.
The Ministry of Textiles has a goal to develop India's textile trade to $350 billion by 2030, together with exports of $100 billion. The present market dimension is $180 billion.Nonetheless, the trade has been dealing with an acute scarcity of cotton, which is predicted to worsen this yr as manufacturing within the 2024-25 crop yr is predicted to be the bottom after 2008-09.The nation can be prone to have a traditionally lowest inventory at 3 million bales (every weighing 170 kg), which is equal to at least one month's consumption. Usually, the inventory lasts for a month and a half to 2 months.
“Because of the import responsibility on cotton, home cotton costs have constantly been larger than the worldwide costs, impacting the competitiveness of the complete worth chain,” mentioned Chandrima Chatterjee, secretary common of the Confederation of Indian Textile Business (CITI).
Home merchants are providing cotton by including the import responsibility equal of 11% to the prevailing cotton costs, the CITI had knowledgeable the federal government in a letter.
“If we take away the import responsibility on cotton, it may be used as a negotiation instrument through the bilateral commerce settlement discussions,” mentioned Chatterjee.
The person trade has reported that the Cotton Company of India, which procures cotton on the minimal assist worth from farmers, can be including import responsibility equal to the value when it sells the fibre. It thus makes home cotton costly in contrast with worldwide costs.
