Ludhiana, Mar 20 (KNN) Ludhiana based exports have appealed to the union government to increase the incentives received on exports amidst tough competition from their international counterparts, reported TOI.

Rohit Gupta, president of Importer Exporter Club of Punjab said, “In wake of our shrinking profit margins due to the rising expenditures on account of hike in charges for labour, freight and raw material, we are facing a very tough time. At this moment we are avoiding increasing the rates of our products for our international customers, but it does not seems possible for us to keep working at the same rates for too long.”

Asking the Union government to extend its support to the industry, Gupta said the government should  increase the duty drawback by at least 3 per cent for the exporters, regardless the nature of the goods.

“Indian exporters are facing tough competition from other nations, especially the neighbouring countries because the rate of incentives being offered by their governments is more than double than here. Despite this edge to them, we are still managing to do business but it is not possible to work on such thin margins forever,” said Harish Kairpal, president of Ludhiana MSME Association.

Former president of Small Scale Manufacturers’ Association at Daba Road, Amarjit Singh Chauhan said, “Ludhiana’s industry, especially the auto parts, sewing machine, bicycle, hand tools and garment industry, has a huge export potential.”

He added only a few of the city’s MSMEs have been able to export their goods due to low rate of incentives, and asked the Centre to hence increase them to double for at least a period of two years on an experimental basis.  (KNN Bureau)