Export licence pleas under scanner

Govt intensifies scrutiny of applications on complaints that some items were used to make weapons of mass destruction

The Union government has intensified the scrutiny of export licence applications after it received communication from the US and some European countries that some of the items exported are allegedly used by some countries to make weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Lalit Mansingh, director general of foreign trade, said.

This has resulted in considerable delay in issuing export licences to a certain class of goods, Mansingh said at an interactive session on review of the Export-Import Policy 2002-07.

Mansingh said the government has received official communication from the US government and some European countries that certain items exported from India were allegedly used by the erstwhile Saddam Hussain regime in Iraq for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.

Mansingh said while the process of issuing export licences has been streamlined to the extent that the licence can be made available within five hours of applying for one, there are several items that the government of India has put in a separate list.

Several agencies check the genuineness of the export before a licence for such goods is given.

"And especially after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in the US, the monitoring has become even more stringent," the director general said.

The DGFT said the intention behind this exercise is to ensure that "what we are exporting does not fall in the wrong hands" and thus the procedure of securing the permit is often very cumbersome.

"The application is sent to almost every government department, including the intelligence agencies and the police," the director general said.

He said an inter-ministerial group scrutinises such applications, even verifying the profile of the buyer company and checking whether that buyer company has any connections with "dubious" clients.

"There are always chances that the goods do not actually land up where they have been intended to. In fact, the procedure is so strict that the seller is supposed to verify at his own cost and inform the authorities whether the goods have actually been installed or used at the company where they were intended to be sent," the official said.

Mostly, engineering goods are included in this list, he said but did not provide the list of items that have been placed under observation by the central government.

Shashikant Patel, an engineering parts manufacturer from Vallabh Vidyanagar, said "I applied for an export licence eight months ago. I am yet to get it. I have finally stopped receiving orders now."

He said the worst part is that no agency has been forthcoming in telling him why the licence is not issued.

"In many cases, we cannot divulge the reason why the licence is not being issued," Mansingh said.

Several industrialists provided suggestions to tackle the issue.

The industrialists suggested that a nodal agency similar to the chamber of commerce must certify that the goods have reached the intended destination and that the high commissionerate must co-ordinate movement of such goods.

However, the director general said, "This is one area that nothing much can be done. Even if the parties are genuine, the government departments will take several months to clear an export licence under this select category."