Scindia heads panel on transaction cost for exporters

A committee has been set up to analyse what can be done to reduce the transaction costs faced by exporters. It will be chaired by Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union minister of state for commerce.

Exporters have been pleading for long that there is a duplication of procedures for customs clearance and sanctions, at the customs and the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade. There are also infrastructure bottlenecks, leading to delayed shipments and resulting in a cascading effect on interest costs of exports. Transaction cost is estimated at around 16-17 per cent of the total and exporters feel it can be brought down substantially, with rule changes.

The Scindia committee, a top government official told Business Standard, is to be called the Task Force on Transaction Cost. It will recommend what to do. “The members include representatives of various export organisations such as FIEO, EEPC, as well as Ficci, CII," he said.

“Exporters are optimistic that the task force will be able to make  valuable suggestions to help reduce transaction cost," sources said.