Handicraft exporters are hopeful of an upward revision in the rate of input tax refund (duty drawback) paid to them by the Government which, in turn, could increase their competitiveness in the global market.

The Drawback Committee, headed by Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri, constituted to examine and recommend revision in drawback rates of various products, will visit Moradabad, the handicrafts hub, on Sunday to get inputs from exporters.

Due to the recent increase in duties and taxes levied on various types of raw materials, the end-products have become costly, which has resulted in these products becoming uncompetitive in the international markets, the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts pointed out in an official release.

“It is, therefore, necessary to re-examine the element of duties and tax forming part of the final cost of the products so that appropriate drawback (reimbursement rate) can be decided for refund purpose,” the release said.

Moradabad is home to artisans producing handicrafts from varied materials including brass, copper, aluminium, iron, stainless and glass. These are mostly exported to Europe and America.

Handicrafts worth Rs 3,000 crore were exported from Moradabad last year, according to the EPCH.

The Drawback Committee is expected to visit various units in Moradabad to collect data. The EPCH, which is responsible for promotion of exports of handicrafts from India to various destinations and is co-ordinating this visit, has already employed the services of an expert to workout basic data in the prescribed format for consideration of the Committee, the release said.

“Moradabad, which is the centre for metal-based handicrafts, is the first handicraft cluster to be visited by the Committee. This visit would help the Committee understand the needs of sector in a much better way and would lead to a favourable revision in the duty drawback rates,” EPCH Executive Director, Rakesh Kumar, said.

amiti.sen@thehindu.co.in

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