New export policy to focus on value addition

The new export policy of the Orissa government will focus on three areas like value addition, promotion of employment and the development of sectors like textiles, handlooms and electronics.

The directorate of export promotion and marketing (DEPM) has formulated the draft export policy based on the concept note prepared by the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO). It has circulated the draft to various industry bodies and associations like Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Orissa Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME) for soliciting opinion.

The final draft will be prepared after receiving the response of the stakeholders, official sources said. “The new policy will focus on value addition, employment generation and will lay thrust on sectors like textile and handlooms”, A P Padhi, commissioner-secretary, industries department, Orissa government, told Business Standard.

Value addition assumes importance as nearly 50 percent of the total exports from Orissa constitutes the minerals. While the overall exports of the state increased by 19.5 percent to Rs 12,832crore during 2006-07, the export of minerals at Rs 6085.41crore grew by nearly 50 percent. However, growth of exports in the sectors like electronics and textiles was higher than 50 percent during 2006-07.The exports of electronics increased by about 57.8 percent to Rs 734 crore by March 2007 compared to Rs 465 crore in the previous year. Similarly, textile exports grew by 58.82 percent during 2006-07 to reach Rs 1431.45 crore during that year.

Since the state does not gain substantially in the form of revenue from exports, the loss on this count is compensated by enhanced employment. Keeping that in view, the state government will strive towards promoting exports in sectors like textiles, electronics, handlooms and software among others. The draft export policy envisages setting up of specialised exclusive administrative body for effective and meaningful export promotion activities.

It will be manned by trained personnel and will be headed by an officer of commissioner rank. The body will coordinate activities associated with growth of exports from the state. This will be the nodal agency and liaison between the state government and the Union government agencies for redressal of the problems of the exporters, sources added. This body will explore the funds available with the Union government for the development of the export related infrastructure such as Assistance to States for Export Infrastructure Development (ASIDE), Market Development Assistance (MDA) and Market Development Initiative (MDI).

Besides, it will work towards ensuring entry of the state code in export document furnished by the exporters to prevent outflow of the export turnover. A market development fund (MDF) will be maintained by this body to provide market development assistance to the industries to enable them venture into overseas market. The draft policy also envisages constitution of item wise trade groups having strategic advantage.

This trade group should consist of handicrafts including the gems and the jewelleries, handloom, textile, minerals and metallurgical, electronics and software products, marine products, agriculture and processed food products, engineering and allied products. District Level Export Promotion Committees (DLEPCs) to be headed by the collectors are proposed to be set up in each district. Besides, export information centres (EICs) will be set up in each metro city in the country to facilitate dissemination of information.