PRESS RELEASE : CIM MEETING
PRESS RELEASE
26th October, 2020
Today 26th October, 2020, DGFT convened a meeting with Shri Piyush Goel, Hon’ble Commerce & Industry & Railway Minister with all Export Promotion Councils. Shri Anup Wadhawan, IAS, Commerce Secretary, Shri Amit Yadav, IAS, DGFT, Officials from the Department of Commerce, Revenue, Custom, Shipping etc. were present in the meeting with Chairmen of all EPCs. Shri Siddh Nath Singh, Chairman, CEPC represented the Indian Handmade Carpet Industry in the meeting.
Shri Siddh Nath Singh, Chairman, CEPC raised the following long pending demands of the Carpet Industry :
- Enhancement of Import Duty on Carpets under Chapter 57 – In order to restrict the import & promote our product Shri Singh proposed that the import duty should be as high as 200 % so that sector should be saved as Turkey and China are dumping substandard products in India.
- Request for Separate Allotment of ITC (HS) 2018 for Chapter 57 items for Handmade and Machine made Carpets and other floor coverings the interest of the export focus handmade carpet industry.
- Request to make Mandatory RCMC of CEPC – Carpet Export Promotion Council is the only EPC which not only work for promotion of exports of Carpets and other floor coverings but also takes initiatives for social compliance i.e. eradication of child labour from the Carpet Industry & their welfare. In this context the Council has formulated a Code of Conduct for its Member-Exporters for non-use of child labour, Registration of all Carpet and Durry looms, Surveillance of Registered looms through an independent agency, running of Schools for the children in the major carpet producing belts for providing Non Formal Education (NFE) with mid-day meal, Medicare and assured stipend, school uniforms, bags, books etc.
In this regard Shri Siddh Nath Singh requested that the Carpet Export Promotion Council should have power to implement its Code of Conduct for total eradication of illegal/ forced/ indentured child labour from the industry for which the Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) should be made mandatory to effectively implement the Code of Conduct of this Council formulated for Carpet manufacturers and exporters.
Hon’ble Minister was kind enough to agreed to all the demand of Shri Siddh Nath Singh and asked DGFT to put quality standard check to stop the import from Turkey and China., he advised DGFT to examine and issue separate HS Code for Handmade Carpets and agreed to give power of de-registration of defaulting exporters to the Carpet Export Promotion Council.
Click here to view in PDF (Hindi)
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Oct-26-20
