35 cases of norm violation in scrap imports till Feb: Commerce & Industry Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman said functional EOUs declined from 2,485 in 2011 to 1,977 in 2015 due to reasons like discontinuation of income tax benefits on export profits

The government has detected 35 cases of violation of procedures in imports of scrap till February 2016, Parliament was informed Monday.

"Action has been taken in accordance with the provisions of Customs Act, 1962, including confiscation of goods and penalising the importers," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

She said that explosives and other hazardous waste are not allowed to be included in the import of scrap.

In a separate reply, she said that as many as 37 FDI proposals have been received till March 10 this year. In 2015, 294 FDI proposals were received.

In another reply, the minister said there has been decline in the number of functional export oriented units (EOUs) from 2,485 in 2011 to 1,977 in 2015 due to reasons like discontinuation of income tax benefits on export profits.

Replying to a question, Sitharaman said the existing Trade Marks Rules 2002 are proposed to be replaced by the Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules 2015.

The proposed rules aimed at introducing major changes like reduction in number of trademark forms; redundant and obsolete provisions are proposed to be deleted and promote e-filing of the applications.

"It is proposed to increase the registration fee for filing of trade mark applications. It is also proposed to keep the fees for electronic filing lower than that for physical filing," the minister said.