New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS): The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has urged the Centre to declare Faridabad, Delhi and Erode as 'Towns of Export Excellence' which would help exporters set up expensive facilities for common use by exporters in the region.

The demand comes after Noida was declared "Town of Export Excellence" for apparel products.

"The recognition entitles the Common Service Providers in the area to avail the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, which in turn would enable them to provide advanced technologies and services to the 700 existing apparel industries in Noida," said AEPC Chairman A. Sakthivel.

Accordingly, 'Common Service Providers' are critical to the apparel industry as they help in reducing the cost of technology by providing services like specialised knitting, dyeing and embroidery, which require high end machines.

However, due to their limited use, these machines are not procured by MSMEs.

"We have also requested for including apparel clusters like Faridabad, Delhi and Erode in the list of Towns of Export Excellence. Faridabad and Delhi have turnovers of Rs 5,880 crore and Rs 5,894 crore respectively, way more than the requirement of Rs 750 crore turnover from a town to get the tag," Sakthivel said.

The move will allow these cities to provide a huge amount of employment with value addition, he added.