New Delhi, Mar 28 (IANS): Welcoming the 75 basis points repo rate cut by RBI, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A. Sakthivel on Friday said that more financial relief needs to be provided to the apparel export industry to tide of the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

"We welcome the 75 basis points cut in repo rate by the RBI, considering the impact of Covid-19 related lockdowns on economic activities," he said, adding that he hoped that repo rate cut to 4.4 per cent would translate into lower lending rates for both retail and corporate credit in order to encourage consumption and investment.

"However, to help the apparel export industry and its workforce of 12.9 million tide over these difficult times, more needs to be done," Sakthivel said.

He noted that there should be no penalty on advance forex booking and postponement of EMIs by six months to start with.

The government should advise the banks to delay declaring company's accounts as NPAs for one year due to the economic fallout, he added.

"This industry needs immediate relief in terms of faster clearance of banking and packing credit, late realization of export bills and raising of advance limit to 25 per cent without any collateral to ease working capital constraints," Sakhtivel said.