Govt allow exports of surgical masks, medical goggles with certain restrictions

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade allowed exports of 2- and 3-ply surgical masks and medical goggles with a monthly cap of 4 crore units and 20 lakh units, respectively.

Hyderabad:The commerce ministry on Wednesday announced that it has allowed exports of some more personal protection equipment (PPE), including surgical masks and medical goggles.

In a notification issued on Wednesday, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said 2- and 3-ply surgical masks and medical goggles can now be exported now with certain restrictions. These categories were earlier placed in the ‘prohibited’ category for exports.

Interestingly, the government has still retained the prohibition on N-95 masks. Exports of non-surgical and non-medical masks made of cotton, wool, silk, polyester, viscose etc were already allowed in May.

For 2- and 3-ply surgical masks, DGFT has set a monthly export quota of 4 crore, while 20 lakh units of medical goggles can be exported in a month.

The government has also removed prohibition on export of face shields from the country. Medical coveralls such as surgical drapes, isolation aprons, surgical wraps and X-ray gowns have also now been made freely exportable.

To recall, the commerce ministry last month had allowed exports of medical coveralls for COVID-19 with a monthly export quota of 50 lakh units. At that time, DGFT had informed that applications filed from first to third day of each month will be considered for the quota of that month and validity of the export license will be for three months.

The export of PPE kits was prohibited by the government earlier this year to assure that domestic demand was fulfilled and there was no supply crunch in the country. However, the industry started seeking lifting of the ban in the wake of global demand and surplus domestic production.

Reports say that the country is currently producing an estimated 6-8 lakh personal PPE kits. The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has estimated the size of the global market for PPEs to be more than $60 billion over the next five years.

(ETV Bharat Report)