In the coming days, the industry is going to see some significant changes. Exporters can expect to get some incentives and industry may also see a revival of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
Besides, there are also some measures that currently under consideration, like categorising the entire export credit given by all lenders separately under priority sector lending without riders, relaxing norms for the Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) to give them greater operational flexibility.
It is worth mentioning that Indian exports have declined from US$314 billion in FY’14 to US$310 billion in FY’15. Exports in FY’16 are expected to shrink even further to nearly US$260 billion.
After the first Board of Trade (BOT) meeting, which went on for three hours, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that some proposals regarding the same will be taken up soon with other Ministries and regulatory authorities. The recently reconstituted 72-member BOT, chaired by Sitharaman, is in essence a government-industry panel looking into possible measures to boost exports from the country.
“The Prime Minister is keen on improving the government’s engagement with the export sector, with the aim of sorting out their problems expeditiously. To ensure consistently high economic growth — of say close to 10 per cent — we need the exports sector to also do well. We will hold interactions with the Indian High Commissions and Embassies, along with their commercial and economic wings, to make them more vibrant and understand the requirements of the exporters,” the minister said.
In this connection, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S C Ralhan, said, investment-linked tax benefits should be given to small and medium-sized units needing huge capital and generating employment. He insisted fiscal support for modernisation and expansion of the production base. Investment-linked benefit for MSME Exporters, line of credit or buyers credit to boost exports, advance ruling facility, export development fund and changes in MAI Scheme and Iran as a focus market were other points that were highlighted by S C Ralhan. The board meeting was attended by senior officials from various ministries, industry chambers, representatives of export promotion councils, corporates.
