KARACHI, Jan 26: Leaders of Sindh-Balochistan All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) have demanded a straight 30 per cent reduction in oil and diesel rates as international oil prices have come down by same level from $78 to $55 to bring down inflation and production cost.

The managing Committee of the Sindh Balochistan Aptma met on Thursday to discuss crisis of the textile industry and took notice of Rs2,500 a maund price of local cotton which it found more expensive than India. A press release said that immediate clearance of Indian cotton through Wagah border was legally permissible.

It reminded the government of a decision of Ogra on January 8, 2007 in which it recommended a reduction of 10 to 12 per cent in gas prices.

The Aptma leaders also said that bank interest rates had gone up by 400 per cent since when it took up a massive revamping and upgrading of mills at an investment of $5 billion. “The State Bank talks about the real interest rates without considering the fact that the inflationary impact cannot be applied to textile, an export-based industry, where inflationary effects cannot be passed on to buyers.

They demanded that the textile sector be given long-term financing facility for export-oriented units and must have mechanism to bring the working capital and cotton financing rates at par with our competitors in the region.

They called banking laws “archaic and criminal” in context of textile industry crisis. Present baking foreclosures, bankruptcy and default related criminal laws needed to be drastically reviewed to make them investment-friendly.

The association demanded abolition of entire tax chain, income tax, turnover tax, withholding tax, SESSI, EOBI and Export Development Fund.