Tirupur exporters association plea to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Coimbatore: The Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) on Thursday requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to announce Additional Credit Assistance up to 10 per cent to all the MSMEs in need of it, irrespective of any precondition for restructuring.

In a letter to the minister, TEA President Raja M Shanmugham said MSMEs which were not interested to go for restructuring have also to be supported with Additional Credit Assistance of up to 10 per cent of the outstanding as on February 29 to MSMEs borrowers covered under ECLGS 1.0 (Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme).

Also, he said the tenor can be fixed as five years, comprising repayment of interest only during the first year and interest and principal in five years thereafter.

Shanmugham also requested the minister to announce measures like implementation of the exact Remission of Duties and Taxes on export products rates to knitwear garment exports sector as proposed by the G K Pillai Committee.

He also said that the ready made garment (RMG) sector was operating under a wafer-thin margin due to severe competition in the global market and struggles of export units to sustain in the business.

Thanking the Finance Minister for announcing various financial measures for the exporters, he said the knitwear sector has got affected due to various adverse factors like increase in inputs and accessories costs and losing their competitiveness against the competing countries in the global market.