DGFT announces new DEPB rates and value cap for Textile Articles in a sexy Public Notice.

By Vijay Kumar

The product covers one piece of garment for the female covering the top of the body and extending from somewhere from the mid-thigh to feet. It is appropriate to wear without other garments and its lower end encloses both the legs in a single tube (rather than two, as trousers do).

Any idea what this product is all about. DDT asked several people, including some girls as to what this dress is. Some said it is a skirt, others said it must be a lungi worn by women; some said it must be a strange outfit for a space odyssey. One persons wondered what difference it makes whether both the legs go into one tube or two. Just look at the conditions required for this strange product.

1. It should be a garment for the female.
2. It should essentially cover the top of her body.
3. It should extent to at least somewhere near the mid thigh.
4. It can go up to the feet.
5. The lower end should be a tube enclosing both the legs.
6. It is a single piece garment
7. It is appropriate to wear this without other garments - under or over.

DDT is not trying to make this column interesting by describing a sexy feminine dress. This is the Note 1 for "Item Numbers 25A, B & C - Ladies Dress" of the table to the DGFT's Public Notice announcing the new DEPB rates. It is not known whether the customs will ensure these requirements while allowing the export and whether they are going to insist on a sample thigh being produced to know whether the dress conforms to the requirement that it extends to somewhere near the mid thigh. While the list includes more than a hundred items it is not known why the DGFT wanted to define only ladies dress. DGFT would have come out with juicy definitions for blouses, blouson, ladies panty, night gowns, socks/stockings (how high in the leg will it extend to), ladies night wears, ladies shorts, ladies skirts etc., These are all products figuring in the Public Notice. - See DGFT Public Notice No. 39/2004-2009.