The Indian apparel industry is happy with the Government of India’s decision to discontinue the current currency denominators of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000. They feel that the decision will benefit the organized segment in the industry as many unorganized players and firms are working unethically and will face pressure to comply. Stalwarts also feel that this decision is not going to impact the apparel export in any way, as exports has always been a legally accounted for business. As far as daily transactions, lesser amount or requirement of cash for day to day affairs is concerned, most feel that it is manageable.
Ashok G Rajani, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said to Apparel Resources, “We welcome this move as it is in the benefit of the country, additionally the apparel export business will not be impacted as it fulfills all the required processes and proper documentations as laid out by the law.”
Some of the exporters feel that the move will put an end to over invoicing, as now it will not be easy to collect cash for the same. Hence that segment of exporters indulging in the practice will not be able to get extra and illegal benefit of duty drawback. Sharing his support for the decision Ajit Lakra, President, Ludhiana Knitters Association and Head, Textile Division, Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organizations said, “Some exporters were habitually over invoicing while exporting, especially to Dubai and few other countries, but now they have to stop this. More than this, some unorganized players of the domestic markets who were not working with proper billing and using loopholes of the system to save on tax liability, will not be able to do so any more. This will make them uncompetitive as earlier they were offering lesser price despite having the same product, but now things will definitely change and the benefit will go to players like us who are working properly and following the systems laid out by the authorities.”
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Agreeing with the opinion of Ajit, Prabhu Damodaran, secretary of Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), Coimbatore says, “It is a cleaning operation which will definitely benefit the players in the entire supply chain that are working properly. Further, GST will also help to work more systematically. Our industry, especially the segment working in the domestic arena is becoming more organized over the last 4-5 years and with this move it will further be disciplined like the rest of the industry.”
Having a little different opinion on this issue Kanwal Kumar Balli, President, Association of Wholesale Readymade Garments Dealers, Delhi says, “It is not as if a particular area or a specific hub is working in an improper or unorganized way, it’s the culture of business, which is same across the country. Secondly, normalcy in business will return only in January, 2017 when all these things will settle down and people will have enough currency in their hands, till then it is a challenge for every businessman.” Representing Gandhi Nagar (Delhi), Asia’s largest apparel wholesale market Kanwal further added that government wants to change the system by minimizing the use of currency and having maximum deposit with banks, the idea is good, but it will take time to adopt this system.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
