Date:09/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/09/stories/2008040955201500.htm

Business

Dip in Tirupur knitwear exports

Staff Reporter

TIRUPUR: For the first time in its history, the vibrant export centre of Tirupur registered a negative growth of around 10 per cent during 2007-08.

The Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), which is releasing the export figures since the abolition of quotas in 2005, on Monday said that knitwear exports from Tirupur declined to Rs. 9,950 crore till March 31, 2008, against Rs. 11,000 crore in the previous financial year.

A. Sakthivel, TEA President, said “We anticipated the decline and time and again we had alerted the authorities too.

“Whatever the Government had done in terms of duty drawback hike and subvention in interest rates are not sufficient to maintain our growth rate.”

Mr. Sakthivel attributed the decline mainly to the rupee appreciation against the dollar.

He appealed to the Centre to exempt exporters from paying fringe benefit tax and service taxes besides cutting the interest rate further.

The TEA President told The Hindu that the exporting community was yet to come out of the shock. “New investments on plant and machinery and capacity expansion at export houses have come to a halt for the past one year,” he added.