Foreign trade policy on April 8

The government will announce the annual foreign trade policy on April 8.

The policy is usually announced on March 31, but was deferred by the government as commerce minister Kamal Nath wanted to present it along with the trade figures for 2004-05 even as sources cited differences between the finance and commerce ministries as the cause for delay.

Nath had ruled out any differences with the finance ministry on certain provisions of the foreign trade policy, and had emphasised that it will be announced before April 10.

While the commerce ministry wants to dole out sops such as tax exemptions to achieve the export target of $150 billion by 2008-09, the finance ministry was worried about their fiscal implications.

Aiming at $100 billion in exports in 2005-06, the policy is expected to unveil a slew of measures for pharma and auto component sectors besides procedural simplifications and a new duty entitlement passbook (DEPB) scheme.

Dairy products like cheese and butter are also likley to be brought under the ambit of the much-touted Vishesh Krishi Upaj Yojana besides some special provisions for the farm sector under the already existing scheme.