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Journalism of Courage
Raising hopes that the Government will take some measures to offset the damage caused by appreciating rupee, finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said that concrete measures will be taken to help the industry tide over the crisis. Chidambaram met the exporters here to discuss the problems that exporters are facing. The meeting was also attended by various bankers.
“The Minister was positive and has assured us that the Government would come out with concrete steps to help exporters hit by an appreciating rupee,” said Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts executive director Rakesh Kumar. “The Minister has given us hope and has asked us to work hard and wait for the government to formulate steps,” he said.
“The rupee appreciation has severely dented the profitability of textile industry. We are not only losing market share but also large number of jobs,” Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council chairman Prem Malik said.
About 8 lakh artisans in the handicrafts sector may lose their jobs if adequate measures are not taken, Kumar added. “Service tax exemption still does not include items like marketing and participation in exhibitions and fairs abroad. While the Government should include more services from tax exemption, we have asked for five per cent duty free scrips on handicrafts items,” Kumar added.
