New Delhi, Jan 16 (KNN) Apparel manufacturers which constitute 95 per cent of MSMEs have sought tax incentives in Research & Development (R&D) for new products in the upcoming annual budget.

Speaking exclusively with KNN India, Animesh Saxena, Managing Director of export house, Neetee Clothings Pvt Ltd., said that apparel sector is the second largest employer after agriculture and we expect the government to support us in areas of research.

Expressing anticipation for production-linked incentive (PLI) 2.0, he said we want the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to announce some parts of it in the union budget on February 1, 2023

Saxena who served as FISME President in the past, has called for a 2 per cent increase in the interest subvention to 5 per cent which would reduce the burden on MSMEs.

Stressing on the impact of recession on MSMEs, he warned that many factories will have no work and government can support them for one year by providing wages subsidy.

Moreover, the knitwear exporting hub in Tirupur cluster of Tamil Nadu have urged the FM to increase the interest benefit under Interest Equalization Scheme to 5 per cent across the board.

Speaking exclusively with KNN India, K.M. Subramanian, President, Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) said that this will help protect knitwear industry as well as lakhs of people, particularly women employees.

Subramanian in the pre-budget memorandum highlighted the severe condition of units due to financial related issues like less booking order, delay in receiving the payment, non-acceptance of booked orders and deferment of shipment.

TEA has also requested the FM to extend the "Export Refinance Scheme" to banks to augment export credit.

It has noted that under such a mechanism, banks may be encouraged to provide export credit in Rupee to exporters and the same amount can be refinanced by the RBI at the Repo Rate.

The association is of the opinion that will bring down the interest cost for export credit providing much needed competitiveness to exports.

Further it has placed a requisition to announce an amnesty scheme to settle export obligation default.  (KNN Bureau)