Booster shot likely for exporters in Jan

The government might announce yet another set of incentives for some export sectors in January even as it has completed a sector-wise review after the announcement of some measures under the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2009-2014.

In August, the government had announced a series of incentives under the Policy , through extension of certain export promotion schemes, mainly targeted towards sectors yet to stabilise yet.

“There has been considerable satisfaction over the way exports have been growing. We had recently a sectoral review and by January, an intervention will be made and we will give incentives to those where required,” said commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma here on Thursday. Some sectors such as handicrafts, carpets and some small-scale industries are still facing severe problems due to sluggish growth in the traditional western markets, he said.

In April-November, exports were $140.28 billion, a growth of 26.7 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year. The imports during the period were $221.96 billion, a growth of 24 per cent.

The trade deficit in the first eight months is around $81.676 billion. It is expected that the trade deficit will be in the range of $120–130 billion.

Merchandise exports growth outpaced that of imports for the second month consecutively in November when shipments rose to 26.8 per cent to $18.9 billion from a year earlier. On the other hand, imports in November rose 11.2 per cent to $27.8 billion.

Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar had earlier said the imports have slowed down due to lower volume of petroleum imports, which is hovering over $80 a barrel.

The government has set a target of achieving $200 billion exports in this fiscal and by 2014 it has planned to achieve a growth of 25 per cent.