The Government has made all types of masks freely exportable.
The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has removed restriction on the export of N-95/FFP-2 masks making all kinds of masks freely exportable.
A notification in this regard issued on Tuesday reads that products with HS codes 9020, 392690, 621790, 630790 (N95/FF2 masks or its equivalent) are amended from restricted to free category making all types of masks freely exportable.
As per industry estimate, India has a capacity of making almost 20 million masks per day and due to the restriction on export, many overseas orders of these masks were shifting to competitor countries. There was a monthly cap of 50 lakh pieces on export of masks.
The mask and PPE manufacturing industry, which has been demanding for this since almost last 5 months, is happy with this decision of the Government and believes this will help them to grow.
Nonwoven Federation of India (NWFI) has thanked the Government for this decision.
“This move will increase India’s exports by Rs. 1,000 crore annually. The country will now be able to bag export orders worth crores of rupees in this huge business opportunity. Annual export of all PPE kits including N95 masks could be around Rs. 3,000 crore to Rs. 4,000 crore,” said Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Dr. A Sakthivel.
