'Exporters need to focus on non-trade barriers to boost biz'

Exporters are facing non-trade barriers and they need to focus on them to enhance their product competitiveness in the global market as well as boost shipments, a senior Commerce Ministry official said today.
"Exporters still face technical barriers and sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues (related with products originated from plants and animals).
Therefore, there is a need to focus on those aspects. The industry needs to enhance its capability to meet these challenges," Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, Rajani Ranjan Rashmi said here.
He was speaking at a function of the Export Inspection Council of India (ECI) here.
Rashmi said ECI is helping exporters in getting certificates online and these measures are helping exporters in reducing the cost and time of their transactions.

EIC, under the Commerce Ministry, notifies commodities which are subject to quality control and inspection prior to export. It also sets up standards of quality for commodities.

Indian exporters from sectors including pharmaceuticals and agriculture face non-trade barriers in several markets such as China, Japan and European Union.
Speaking on the occasion, Quality Council of India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai said that the council is working with small and medium enterprises to increase quality of their goods and services.
"We are trying to help one million SMEs. Today we are helping about 6,000. There are about 33 million SMEs in the country. We are also working on ways to improve quality of government services as delivered to citizens," Zainulbhai said.

These moves are important as India has set a target to more than double exports of goods and services to USD 900 billion by 2019-20.
India's exports dipped deeper into the negative zone, recording a decline of 21 per cent in March.
This was the biggest fall in last six years, pulling down the total shipment for 2014-15 to USD 310.5 billion, missing the target of USD 340 billion.