Rising imports of used garments has posed a double whammy for garments manufacturers, at a time when Rs 2,50,000-crores domestic apparel industry is facing severe demand slowdown. Categorised as restricted item, the government has issued only 16 licenses so far for players only in Kandla Specialised Economic Zone (SEZ). Import of used garments elsewhere in the country is banned.

A number of unauthorised importers also bring in consignments at Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai ports, while these 16 authorised importers have been bringing in used garments into India already. Thus, unauthorised importers contribute equivalent to the quantity of official imports if not more.

According to industry estimates, overall 90 containers worth $40,000 each of used garments primarily from the United States, European countries etc hit Indian ports every month. Its import has doubled in the last one year due to importers malpractices, said an importer on condition of anonymity.

Experts say, importers bring in fresh garments by misleading declarations for evading taxes. As against up to 15 per cent of taxes levied on fresh garments, the used ones attract taxes on per piece basis, which works out to negligible.