Govt to boost imports to arrest price rise

To add teeth to the recent measures to control price rise, the government is planning to encourage more imports.

Speaking on the sidelines of an award function organised by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) here, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said, "To deal with supply side constraints, adequate capacities will have to be created. Wherever this is not possible, we will have to resort to imports."

Nath said the Cabinet Committee on Prices on Thursday discussed ways to control prices. "Inflation is under control, but high economic growth has led to increased consumption and constraints in supply," he said.

Speaking at the function, Nath asked exporters to provide inputs for a mechanism for refund of local taxes to them. "We are in the process of formulating the scheme and will incorporate valid suggestions from exporters," he said.

He also released a study on engineering process outsourcing (EPO) commissioned by the EEPC. The study estimates that by 2010, the market size of the segment in India 2010 will be $12 billion, which will be 15-18 per cent of the global market.

The report projects that by 2015, India's share in the global EPO market will be 18 per cent to 22 per cent--which in value terms comes to $19.8 billion to $30.8 billion.