Export incentive scheme to end in Sept, sector-wise sops from Aug.
Putting speculations to rest, commerce secretary Rahul Khullar today said the Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB) would be terminated from October 1 while the rate of growth of exports might see some moderation in the next couple of months.
“The DEPB scheme is on its way out and September 30 is the day it will die and the duty drawback would kick in. The biggest beneficiaries of the duty drawback will be the small and medium enterprises (SME), engineering and chemicals sectors. But we (commerce secretary and revenue secretary) would ensure that the transition process is smooth,” said Khullar while addressing a business chamber.
He also asked exporters and businessmen to approach the Department of Commerce or the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) with clear statistics on how much of a loss they would incur corresponding to their tariff lines and consequently would be given alternate concessions.
While outlining a macroeconomic picture of the Indian economy to the industry leaders, Khullar said exports have been witnessing massive growth rate in the last few months, which can't be sustained for long and the growth rates would moderate.
He said the government was conducting a sector-wise review of the export-oriented firms, and depending on the result, it might dole out incentives by August. It is likely that the incentives might be announced as a supplement to the Foreign Trade policy of 2009-2014.
“Foreign trade has done well in the first five months. But we cannot expect the same growth rate to continue in the days to come in view of global factors. Things are not well with the global economy and there would be some contraction of demand from the international markets. But that does not mean exports would go into negative. But the heady days of 40-45 per cent growth rates would not continue for the rest of the year, it is a pipe dream,” he said.
He also indicated that the spiralling rate of inflation is likely to remain stubbornly high till September after which it might slightly fall.
