They have also asked for refund of both yarn duty and process duty to the processed fabrics falling under chapter 58 and 60. Ganesh Kumar Gupta, chairman of Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) had led a delegation to the Textile Commissioners' office and submitted a memorandum pointing out the various problems faced by the exporters as a fallout of the notification no 11/99 dated February 16, 1999.

He said that he would lead a morcha in New Delhi if the authorities do not solve the grave issues. He said that the haste with which government affected changed duty structure on processed fabrics from ad valorem to compounded levy on chamber basis vide the above notificationhas created havoc with the export activities of processed fabrics. As a result, processed fabrics exports which accounted for nearly 87 per cent (Rs 1,650 crores) of the total synthetics export has come to a near standstill. He stated that prior to change in excise duty structure, the exporters were getting refund of full 20 per cent of paid excise duty. The latest notification has provided for refund of the duty from February 16, 1999, but the department has yet not clarified about the duty paid between December 16, 1998, (when the duty was changed) until February 16, 1999.

The exporters demanded a retrospective effect to the notification and also asked for a clear-cut rebate procedure. They have also asked the authorities to allow rebate of 7.2 per cent of input duty which has no mention in the latest notification, alongwith the rebate of 12.8 per cent of process duty, as was done in the earlier duty structure. According to Gupta, the exports have been affected by south Asian contagion and the globalrecession has already put heavy financial burden on exporters. The indecisive conditions laid down in the notification has made exporters hold on to their precious export orders stretching their financial abilities to the extreme.