The Government has announced that it has allowed the export of four crore surgical masks and 20 lakh medical goggles every month.
Confirming the same, Union Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal on Tuesday tweeted that in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the government has permitted the export of four crore 2/3 Ply surgical masks and 20 lakh medical goggles every month, along with restriction-free export of face shields.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that “monthly export quota of 50 Lakh units of Medical Coveralls for COVID-19, 20 lakh medical goggles has been permitted.”
All other items that are part of PPE kits remain prohibited, it said.
These items include medical goggles, all masks other than non-medical/non-surgical (cotton, silk, wool, polyester, nylon rayon, viscose – knitted, woven or blended); nitrile gloves and face shield.
This comes weeks after giving a nod to the monthly export of 50 lakh units of PPE (personal protection equipment) medical coveralls. However, the Centre has imposed quantitative restrictions as shipments can not exceed 50 lakh units per month.
PPE medical coveralls for COVID-19 have been moved to the ‘restricted’ list for exports from the ‘prohibited’ list. It, however, said that all items that are part of PPE kits, however, continue to be prohibited from exports.
The export of PPE kits was prohibited by the government to meet the domestic demand and avoid supply crunch in the country. Industry has been seeking the lifting of the ban in order to cater to the global demand.
Urging the government to lift the ban on exports, the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) had recently said that several countries, like Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, have lifted ban on PPE exports and are receiving huge orders.