Lower packing credit,knitwear exporters appeal
Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) has appealed to the Centre to reduce packing credit by 3% for exporters, following the continuous upward movement of rupee. In a memorandum to the Union finance minister P Chidambaram, TEA president A Sakthivel said knitwear exporters were incurring heavy loss owing to strengthening of rupee by 14% against the US dollar. Knitwear exports from Tirupur during 2006-07 registered a 25% growth at Rs 11,000 crore. Mr Sakthivel said despite this robust growth, exporters were worried over the fallout of appreciating rupee value against US dollar. He said this would result in incurring losses. “As China, our main competitor in the global market, is pegging its currency against dollar, it is impossible for us to compete and stay in the market,” he added.Mr Sakthivel urged the minister to advise the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene in the forex market immediately. The interest rate, including for packing credit, had gone up further recently due to measures taken by the RBI to tame inflation. He appealed to the minister to reduce the packing credit interest rate by 3% for exporters. Mr Sakthivel said their orders were booked already and the buyers would not give any compensation for the adverse effect on the rupee.
