|
|
|
'Rubber sector in need of import duty rationalisation'
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 14 Sep, 2020
The country's rubber industry
requires rationalisation of import duties and change in the inverted
duty structure for the sector's raw materials and finished goods to grow
and contribute to the vision of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', V.T.
Chandrasekharan, President of the All India Rubber Industries
Association (AIRIA), said.
Speaking to IANS, Chandrasekharan
noted that import of raw materials such as natural rubber and latex
attract import duties of as high as 70 per cent, while that on finished
goods is much lower and this impacts the local rubber goods producing
industry.
"Our major concern is the duty structure. We have been
professing that on raw materials, the duty structure should be minimum.
It should be 0-5 per cent on raw materials, 15-20 per cent on
intermediaries and on finished goods, you can have 30-40 per cent import
duty," he said.
"Unfortunately, it's the other way round for the industry."
The
AIRIA President said that the industry body has to resort to import of
natural rubber as the quality produced in the country is not "up to the
mark" and the tyre manufactures buy the bulk of domestically-produced
high-quality supplies, leaving no choice for the MSMEs and the other
rubber goods producers than to go for imports for good quality raw
materials.
He also said that India lags in terms of supply of machinery and their quality.
Chandrasekharan
noted that the quality of the machines available is not as good as
foreign countries, which forces the rubber goods industry to bring in
supplies from China.
The industry body's chief was of the view
that the sector players, along with the government, will have to look
for ways of sourcing in modern technology, including transfer of
technology from foreign players investing in India.
Saying that
the Indian rubber industry is "quite capable" of manufacturing products
for the major sectors including automobiles and healthcare, he said that
availability of technology and lower duties would play the drivers of
the growth of the sector.
Both tyre and non-tyre rubber goods
industries had a demand for 1.2 million tonne of rubber last year, out
of which 50 per cent was catered through imports, he said.
This year, he feels the imports will be lower because of the fall in demand.
About
the demand in the sector, he said that it has been impacted post the
lockdown as anticipated, but is gradually picking after the restrictions
were lifted.
Chandrasekharan said that a major issue for the
industry, more than poor demand, right now is the labour crunch. Most of
the skilled labourers who went back to their villages during the
lockdown have not been able to return yet, which is leading to
disruption in operations.
"Even the 40-60 per cent orders we
have, we are facing difficulty in delivering that, because we don't have
the trained labour," he said.
He noted that skill development is
an important requirement and AIRIA along with other industry partners
have been involved in programmes to impart the required skills to the
workers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
84.35
|
82.60 |
UK Pound
|
106.35
|
102.90 |
Euro
|
92.50
|
89.35 |
Japanese
Yen |
55.05 |
53.40 |
As on 12 Oct, 2024 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|