
SURAT, March 10: The indefinite agitation launched by texturisers entered the second day on Wednesday, even as the five-member delegation of South Gujarat Texturisers Association submitted a memorandum to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha at Delhi.
The association in its pre-budget memorandum had asked the Union Government to rationalise the duty structure, which is now levied on an ad valorem basis. The association had launched the strike in protest against non-fulfilment of their demands raised in the pre-budget memorandum.
In the memorandum submitted on Wednesday, the association suggested an alternative that the Excise duty on textured yarn be levied via a judiciously decided tariff value on the basis of its current ad valorem incidence.
The country has a vast population of texturisers having diverse sizes, marketing policies, ethics and financial strengths.
It is common knowledge that some of them resort to artificial monitoring of textured yarn prices resulting in Excise duty evasion. If the alternative is accepted duty evasion can be avoided, the memorandum pointed out.
The association also suggested a second alternative of levying a fixed rate of duty per kg on textured yarn manufactured from duty paid POY. This will result in smooth administration and eliminate chances of duty evasion. The problem that needs attention to levy specific rate of duty on PFY is credit of Modvat of capital goods available with texturisers/draw twisters etc.
Either of these alternatives will net more revenue for the department with minimum administrative cost, the association claimed.