AEPC welcomes Finance Minister’s support for poor

Commenting on the announcement of Rs 1.7 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Dr A Sakthivel said, “We welcome the government’s decision to provide food and money to the most vulnerable section of our society during the current hour of crisis.”

“While the decision is sure to benefit a large section of the population, there was nothing for the Apparel manufacturers and exporters and the 12.9 million workforce engaged in the sector, which has been one of the worst hit sector after agriculture. The Apparel sector is in any case facing huge losses as export orders are being cancelled and/or postponed every day and to further aggravate the situation, there are road blocks and delays in shipments.

“The Apparel manufacturers and exporters are having difficulty in arranging working capital and paying interest on loans, in addition to payment in wages. The situation is so grim that survival of several units are in doubt. After today’s announcement for the poor, we hope that the Finance Minister soon comes out with relief measures for the Apparel manufacturers and exporters.

“We request the government to extend the Provident fund, ESI and other related benefits for workers of small establishments to our Apparel workers as well. This industry needs immediate relief in terms of faster clearance of banking and packing credit, late realization of export bills and raising of advance limit to 25 per cent without any collateral to ease working capital constraints.

“There should be no penalty on advance forex booking and postponement of EMIs by six months to start with. Considering the volatilities in the global apparel markets and other postponements and cancellations, the apparel sector needs full support of the financial institutions in managing financing viability of the organsiations. The Government should advise the banks to delay declaring company’s accounts as NPAs for one year due to the economic fallout.

“The Council requests the government for providing relief in terms of our obligations towards the workforce by way of contributing wages/ salaries for six weeks and that the Industry may be allowed to defer payment of PF/ ESI and electricity charges by a period of three months.

“We look forward to an immediate and financially viable Stimulus Package that would ensure that our losses are minimized and we play our small but effective role in ensuring that the nation’s economy continues to function close to normalcy. The benefits that are due to the Apparel exporters in terms of RoSCTL and GST may be released at the earliest.”

This will not only save this Apparel Industry of long standing and repute in the International market, but also save the livelihood of its 12.9 million employees and their families.