India Asks Kenya to Cut Duties on Textile Imports

New Delhi: India asked Kenya to reduce duties on imports of textiles, especially man-made fibres, from this country. During a meeting with his Kenyan counterpart, Chirauli Mwakwere, Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma, said the high taxes imposed by Kenyan government hurt bilateral trade between the two countries. Kenya imposes high import tariffs on imports of man-made fibre textile items from India. On yarn and fabrics, it imposes import duties of up to 25 percent, while on man-made fibre textiles the duties go up to 50 percent. In addition to this, Kenya also imposes 16 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on imports. Sharma, who is also the Minister for Textiles, invited Kenyan entrepreneurs to invest in India's textiles sector. He pointed out that up to 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment was allowed in the textiles sector through the automatic route. During the meeting, Sharma asked for the greater cooperation among the trade bodies and business chambers of the two countries to facilitate growth in textile trade, an official statement released after the meeting said. India's textiles exports to Kenya rose to $100 million in 2010 against $77 million in the previous year.