Govt may announce more sops for exporters early next month

The government today said it may announce some more sops in the first week of January for the sectors like textile, leather and engineering, hit by the slump in global demand.

"The sectoral reviews have been completed, and the recommendations should be coming to us ... We will be discussing with the stakeholders and see what is required to be done particularly for the sectors which continue to remain in the red," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters said on the sidelines of a CII function here today.

Asked about the timeline of the sops, Sharma said, "I can say definitely by the first week of January."

The commerce ministry has completed the study on the impact of packages, like interest subsidy and incentives to explore new markets provided by the government on exports.

Exports turned around in November after falling for 13 straight months, posting a growth of 18 per cent to touch $13.2 billion.

On November exports, the minister said the growth is satisfactory despite the slowdown in the Western markets.

"... We can say that exports are stabilising, there has been a growth in figures over the last year ... We move to positive growth terrain in the last quarter of this fiscal," he said.