Coimbatore : Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) today hailed the increase in basic customs duty from 10 to 20 per cent for import of 23 knitted garment items and also one knitted fabric item by the Union Finance Ministry, with effect from yesterday.

Import of textile products from China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka have been significantly increased with compounded annual growth rate of 17 per cent in five years and imports of readymade garments increased from Rs 3,994 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 4,983 crore in 2017-18, TEA president Raja M Shanmugham said in a statement.

Leading retail stores in India also started importing garments from Bangladesh and other countries as it was cheap.

Considering the vulnerability of Indian textile industry and serious threat to employment, TEA had been continuously making representations to the Government and emphasising the threat during personal discussions with ministers and secretaries and appealing to restrict the textile products imports, he said.

A white paper was also submitted to the Union Textiles Minister detailing the issue and how threat had emerged from China by setting up their factories on border countries to take advantages of abundant availability of labour, low wages and also customs duty exemption available to these countries in EU and Canada, he said.