Various industry chambers have welcomed the Foreign Trade Policy and hailed it as something that will be successful in arresting shrinking exports.
“The dynamic initiatives announced by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma towards expansion and diversification of export markets, technological upgrade, increased flexibility and procedural simplifications will help our exporters retain market share, and will hopefully reverse the declining trend in our exports,” said Harsh Pati Singhania, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In his reaction to the policy, Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said: “The extension of the DEPB (Duty Entitlement Passbook) scheme, expansion of the focus market scheme to 26 new countries, extension of interest subvention and zero duty on capital goods imports under the Export Promotion Credit Guarantee (EPCG) scheme are measures which will help revive exports and protect employment.”
The chambers also stated that the emphasis on reducing transaction costs and simplifying trade and tax procedures would help enhance the competitiveness of Indian exports and would specially benefit small and medium-sized exporters.
“The micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, are in need of technological upgrade in order to be cost-effective and competitive in international markets. The technological upgrade scheme, by providing imports of capital goods for certain sectors under EPCG at zero per cent duty will help us. They have to ensure that we get our refunds on time,” said Satish Bagrodia, president, PHD Chamber.
However, the chambers mentioned that they had anticipated much more than what the policy offered and this has acted as a disappointment for some sectors like textiles.
“It was necessary to address issues such as timely export credit at internationally competitive rates, providing inputs at international prices, safeguard to exporters against dollar fluctuations, among others. More incentives are needed for some sectors,” Bagrodia added.
