India Lifts Cap On N-95 Mask Exports As Domestic Production Surges

The Union government has lifted curbs on export of N-95 and FFP-2 masks thus allowing shipments of all types of masks from the country, to help manufacturers take advantage of the demand in the global market.

In a tweet on Tuesday (6 October), the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said it has issued a notification providing details of allowing exports of all masks from the country.

The latest move of the Narendra Modi government will make the mask and FFP-2 (filtering face piece) producers happy, even as demand to ban import of readymade garments from Bangladesh has cropped up.

The Non-Woven Federation of India (NWFI) was among the first to welcome the move, saying that lifting the ban, which was imposed in February this year, would help the industries.

The Centre had banned the export of medical textiles, including masks and clothing, after the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. At that point of time, the country was severely short of the required masks and clothing to meet any emergency arising out of the pandemic.

It is another story that the domestic medical clothing sector has surged by leaps and bounds since then, thanks to the government backing its efforts to expand their production.

The latest notification is actually a modification of the DGFT’s 25 August order when it fixed a cap of 50 lakh for N-95 and PPF-2 mask exports.

For the industry, which produces about 5 lakh such masks every day, the removal of the cap should come as a relief as they can try to explore new markets, particularly in Africa and the least developed nations.

There are a little over 100 units that have got the Bureau of Indian Standards approval to produce these masks.

The NWFI has been pleading with the Centre to remove the cap while seeking that duty-free imports of such products be stopped to help the domestic industry.

The industry’s cause was supported by the Ministry of Textiles, which said there was no shortage of N-95 or FFP-2 masks in the country.

The industries are now seeking relaxation in ban of other items such as surgical gloves and medical coveralls.

India chose to focus on medical textiles during coronavirus as the pandemic spread across the country, particularly in metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.

So far, over 68 lakh people in the country have tested positive for Covid-19 with 1.05 lakh deaths being reported. Currently, there are about 9 lakh active coronavirus cases in India.