Schemes for exporters yet to be notified

Even after nearly six months, many schemes announced in the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy, 2008-09, are yet to be implemented.

Sources said these schemes are yet to become operational as the Department of Revenue is yet to notify them. “Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has asked for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention in the matter,” sources said. There are reportedly more than 15 issues related to the foreign trade policy which have not seen the relevant notifications or action.

The sources said Nath has told the PM that if the relevant notifications are not released, there may be some impact on exports.

One of the most important announcements in the Foreign Trade Policy was the extension of the Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB) till May 2009.

“This was done so that the new government at the Centre is able to take a final decision on the DEPB scheme, which is not WTO compatible and has to be replaced with another scheme. But there has been no notification form the revenue department so far,” said an official.

Moreover, corresponding notifications from the Customs department have also not been issued for the hi-tech products duty credit scrip. The scheme provides duty credit scrip for export of certain high value electronics and IT hardware products.