New Delhi: Information and Broadcasting Minister Sh Manish Tewari today led a delegation of Ludhiana knitwear manufacturers to Finance minister P Chidambaram to express the hosiery sector’s concerns related to imposition of excise duty on branded garments. “We met regarding an issue from our area. The hosiery industry had an exception from central excise from 2004 to 2011. In the 2012, excise duty was imposed which has created burden on this sector,” Tewari told reporters after he emerged from the meeting.
“Since Ludhiana is considered the hub of hosiery production, it was felt that what everyone feels should reach the finance minister, because the budget will come soon. And all of us should take our thoughts to the finance minister and hope that he will take cognisance of the concerns,” he said.
Tewari who represents the Ludhiana seat in the Lok Sabha. Narinder Miglani, who accompanied Tewari to the finance minister said that the imposition of excise as per existing rules was hurting the industry in view of the cheap imports that are coming from China and Bangladesh.
Miglani also said that since the policy is to levy excise on branded clothes, all clothes which have labels are considered fit for levy of excise duty and it includes those products also which are made for the poorer sections of the populace.
On this occasion District Congress President Pawan Dewan, Knitwear’s Club President Darshan Dawar, Chairman Vinod Thapar, Jaswant Takkar, Harish Kairpal, Sudarshan Jain, Raju Malik were also present.