Ludhiana's hosiery industry has high expectations from the general budget. In the same budget, hosiery entrepreneurs have sent suggestions to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, where they have demanded the rate of income tax to be equal for all industries, lower production costs and strengthen the domestic structure. There are about twelve thousand small and large units of hosiery in Ludhiana. Apart from this, about eighteen to twenty thousand crore rupees are being traded annually, besides eight to one million people are directly and indirectly connected with this industry. Most of the units are set up in the small and unorganized sector. The entrepreneurs say that duty on raw materials and machinery should be minimum. In addition, the duty on imports of finished goods should be increased.

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Import of machinery be custom duty-free
Head Ajit Lakra of the textile division at the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organizations says that in order to encourage the hosiery industry, Ludhiana has to declare knitwear clusters in the budget. The import of machinery that is not being manufactured in the country should be exempted from duty. Apart from this, 22-24 percent custom duty is being levied right now. The construction of machinery in the country should be given due consideration. For this, agreements should be made with foreign companies. Yarn banks should be made to reduce the cost of small industry. There is a need to buy yarn from mills and give it to small entrepreneurs at low prices.

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Safeguard duty should be imposed
According to Sudarshan Jain, head of the Knitwear Apparel Manufacturers Association of Ludhiana, Bangladesh's share of apparel exports worldwide was 2.6 percent in 2000, which rose to 7.7 percent in 2018. India's share has increased from three to just 3.3 percent in these 18 years. Imports to India from Bangladesh were 2,800 crores two years ago, which has now reached Rs 7,000 crore. There is a need to impose safeguard duty in the budget to control cheap imports.

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The refund should be arranged on time
Harish Dua, president of Knitwear Apparel Exporters Organization, says the industry is deeply troubled by delays in government refunds. There is no timely refund of the Technology Upgradation Fund nor the Rebate on State and Center for Taxes levies (ROSCTL). For the past nine months, garment exporters have not received a refund of four percent of ROSCTL at around Rs 5,800 crore. Due to this, the working capital of the industry is getting stuck. The refund should be arranged on time. In addition, duty drawback should be increased. Apart from this, subsidies and more incentives should be given to increase exports and loans should be arranged for exporters according to the global rate.