Chennai, Aug. 29 -- The cotton textile industry in Tiruppur has lauded the Union finance ministry's move on Thursday to extend the cotton import duty exemption window till December 31 from the initial date of September 30in line with the appeal made by local textile industry assocations.

"The extension has come as a timely relief for the textile industry, which was severely impacted by the sudden imposition of an abnormal 50% tariff by the US on Indian goods," said the Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA).

The predominantly cotton based textile industry in Tiruppur had said that exempting 11% import duty on all varieties of cotton from 19th August to 30th September was not enough and had appealed to the Union government for a furthe...