New Delhi, Jun 29 (KNN) Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Dr A Sakthivel on Monday thanked the government for lifting the ban on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) medical coveralls with a monthly quota of 50 lakh.

“I sincerely thank Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal and Minister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani for accepting the request of our members to allow the export of PPE. This opens the entire global market for our domestic players who were fast enough to seize this opportunity of producing and supplying PPE kits as the world struggles to control coronavirus pandemic,” Dr Sakthivel said.

The production of PPE is more than sufficient to cater to the needs of the country and allowing exports of PPE items will not only help the health workers across the world but also support the revival of the apparel industry in the country, he said.

The Council has been requesting the Government to allow the exports of all the items in PPE kits including the medical coveralls and N95 masks. From zero production of PPE early March, the country now produces more than 8 lakh PPE pieces per day – the second largest producing country in the world.

“The PPE manufacturers showed extraordinary enterprise and nimbleness in its ability to rejig large production facilities to manufacture PPEs. A single mask manufacturing machine can produce one lakh pieces per day and we have more than 200 such machines currently. The government should soon extend the export opportunity for N95 masks as well,” Dr Sakthivel said, adding that the size of the global market for PPEs is more than $60 billion over the next five years.

The Chairman further said that India is in competition with countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan as they have lifted the ban on PPE exports and are receiving huge orders from large buyers in the US and Europe. The PPE manufacturers will be further strengthened to compete globally if the government allows export of other medical textiles like N-95 masks.