Reacting to the Union Budget 2015-16, Chairman of AEPC (Apparel Export Promotion Council), Virender Uppal has requested the Indian Government to reconsider the demands of the garment sector. He expected favourable announcements regarding issues like inclusion of fabrics to the extent of 2 per cent of FOB value of the overall 5 per cent entitlement, deduction in the income tax for undertaking research and development, reducing the threshold investment limit from Rs. 25 crore to Rs. 1 crore, etc. He also discouraged the increase in excise duty to 12.5 per cent and service tax to 14 per cent and urged that All Industry Rates of Duty drawback should be improved immediately after considering the new incidence of service tax, excise duty and increase of excise duty on diesel.
