Exporters in job intensive sectors may get more sops

Exporters in the labour intensive sectors like handicraft can expect more sops from the government in January, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said today.

Giving an annual review of performance of exports, he said the government would provide further incentives to the exporting sectors which are labour intensive and have not fully recovered from the last year's slowdown.

"Sectoral (performance) reviews have been completed. We will now be making final analysis in the first half of January. Where further incentives are required, (they) will be announced," he said.

Although overall exports have grown by 27 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal to $140 billion, certain labour intensive sectors like handicraft, tea and cashew have not been able to make full recovery from the impact of global recession of 2008-09.

The government had provided some market and product linked incentives in January this year to encourage export diversification outside the western economies. Besides certain tax refunds have also been given.

Sharma said the country was on course to doubling its exports by 2014 from 2008-09 level of $168 billion. This fiscal, the exports are likely to touch $210 billion.

The government has already taken various steps to help the export sector by giving incentives for market diversification, he said.