Terminal excise duty (TED) refund dues to the eligible exporters, amounting to Rs 2,000 crore, will be cleared soon, Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) Anup K Pujari said here on Saturday. Addressing a meeting with the representatives of exporters from different sectors held here by the Federation of Indian Export Orgnanisations (FIEO), the DGFT said his office has taken steps to clear the claims and other issues pertaining to exporters on time by switching over to the electronic mode of communication within the department at all levels and between the department and the stakeholders.
Responding to requests by exporters to allow cotton yarn, rice and sugar exports, he said while the commerce ministry had issued new allotment for the export of cotton yarn, allowing the export of rice pertaining to Sona Masoori variety produced in Andhra Pradesh would be decided once the EGoM takes a view on the issue.
The government has put a blanket ban on rice export, excluding Basmati, owing to complaints of PDS rice being diverted to export markets.
Pujari said the discussion on barcoding of pharmaceutical products was aimed at insulating Indian pharma exports from the problem of counterfeits and it would be decided by July this year. Besides the trace and track mechanism that gives the entire trail of the origination and movement of a product, the government was also making it clear to the world that exported drugs were not made in violation of any patents existing in other countries, he said.