In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel said the industry employing 12.9 million workers would die a slow death unless the government immediately announced an economic package for apparels.

AEPC has asked most of the sector are operating under extremely competitive margins in the range of 3-4 per cent, and are completely dependent on export benefits granted by the government. Given the disruptions in imports, the Council has requested for the extension of validity period of unutilised entitled value under export promotion schemes by six months. It also asked for the extension of the validity period of Advance Authorisation to two years from the existing one year along with the period for fulfilment of export obligations being increased to 3 years from the existing 18 months.

Exporters have pointed to detailed, industry specific measures taken by other governments as necessary cues for India to adopt immediately. AEPC says the government needs to help labor and industry both as flow of funds from either the banks or the customers have stopped