Staff Reporter :
The leaders of the different bodies of the country’s readymade garments sector on Wednesday demanded stopping misuse of bonded facilities to bring transparency in the industry.
They also urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman to take steps to stop unwanted harassment by the revenue officials.
The leaders made the call in a pre-budget discussion with the NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem at the conference room of the revenue board in the capital.
Rubana Haq, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) President Mohammad Ali Khokon, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Senior Vice-President Mohammad Hatem, among others, took part in the discussion.
Rubana Haq said, “We don’t want to be treated as thief. The NBR should take measures including cancellation of licence against the businesses, who are misusing the bonded facilities. This will bring transparency in the sector.”
She placed sixteen proposals in the discussion to include in the upcoming national budget.
Exemption VAT on raw materials collected from domestic markets for export
purposes, halve the tax deducted at source (TDS) on exports to .25 per cent from .50 per cent for all the sectors and also keeping it unchanged for at least five years and not to cut tax at source spend from Exports’ Retention Quota (ERQ) fund, she proposed.
She also demanded fixation of corporate tax at 12 per cent rate for over all apparel factories and 10 per cent for green factories and keeping it unchanged for at least next five years to increase eligibility of the sector.
NBR should take measures to remove complexities related to H.S code for importing raw materials for the RMG sector, she added.
Besides, ensuring duty facilities for importing industrial thermostat de-humidifier and reduction import duty to zero per cent from 15 per cent on importing industrial racking system, among the others, she demanded.
She said that the sector is currently passing through a peril situation due to different domestic and international pressures.
The country’s apparel sector is losing competitiveness due to various reasons including price fall, impact of consecutive negative growth, increasing production cost and strong position of Taka against dollar.
The NBR should consider the proposals to bring back export growth to positive trend and to revive the sector’s competitiveness.
Speaking at the discussion, NBR Chairman, however, said that the all logical proposals placed by the leaders of the apparel sector would be considered for the development of the RMG sector.
“NBR will take all possible initiatives for developing the RMG sector, the main export earning source of the country,” he said.
He also urged the leaders to refrain from misusing the bonded licence and other facilities for the sake of the country’s development.
