 "Piyush Goyal")
The government will work out measures to help the industry in addressing the non-tariff measures such as the European Union (EU)’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) regulation, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal tells Shreya Nandi in a post-Budget interaction. Edited excerpts:
Q. Tell us about the export promotion mission and how will the government spend the Rs 2,250 crore that has been allocated?
The commerce and finance ministries are working as a team to see which are the sectors that require maximum support in terms of availability of capital, technology upgradation, marketing, brand building, access to newer markets, and promotion of newer products. In a way, it is an omnibus scheme, which gives a lot of flexibility for promoting exports.
Q. The Budget specifically mentions there will be support measures for MSMEs to tackle non-tariff measures. By when can we expect the steps?
The broad idea was that if any country has very difficult quality approvals, the government should be in a position to support MSMEs in meeting those costs. So, if there is an additional cost, let's say meeting the EU’s CBAM regulation. We would like to support our micro and small units to be able to meet those reporting requirements of certification.
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The team that will work on this mission will work out measures to help our industry in addressing the NTBs (non-tariff barriers). We are also in continuous dialogue with our counterparts to reduce NTBs.
Q. There’s no allocation for market access initiative and interest equalisation scheme. Your take?
We have brought all of it into this bucket because we would like to see targeted and focused interventions rather than just a regular intervention, where big and small, or all sectors get the same treatment.
Interest equalisation scheme was over on December 31 (2024). The commerce and finance ministries can address if any sector needs to be supported through any scheme and draw the contours of the scheme. I personally think we have better ways to have targeted benefits for those sectors which deserve and need the same the most.
Q. India has been called a “tariff king” by the US President. Is the customs duty reduction on several products in line with that?
We have always tried to address the issue of inverted duties. We have always been responsive to industry’s requests on reduction of tariffs and duties. This is a continuation of that effort and will send a positive message to the industry. It will help manufacturing grow because (cheaper) raw materials and intermediate outputs will make our products more competitive in the international market.
Q. We already have production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes for 14 sectors to boost manufacturing and create jobs. How will the manufacturing mission work?
For those PLIs, beneficiaries have been selected, they are investing, and the scheme has been a runaway success. Now the national manufacturing mission will look at the manufacturing ecosystem, identify focus areas, which are futuristic and where there’s demand in domestic and foreign markets, and come up with recommendations on what we should do.
