Will sort out issues of exporters, says Sitharaman

Acknowledging the problems faced by exporters with regards to ease of doing business, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday promised to engage with the environment, textiles and finance ministries to iron out complications to this end.

Sitharaman held consultations with various export promotion councils (EPC) to discuss ways to boost India's sagging merchandise exports, which fell for the 13th consecutive month in December, 2015 to $22.2 billion (Rs 1.5 lakh crore) as a result of a steep decline in engineering and petroleum shipments.

After a two-hour-long meeting, where EPCs raised issues like including non-tariff barriers of other countries, currency volatility, and special economic zones (SEZs), Sitharaman said many of the issues that are enablers to enhance exports have been identified. "Issues which may have a bearing on the forthcoming Budget were also raised," she added.

In the discussion on the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) initiated to incentivise exporters, exporters asked that the benefits of the scheme be extended to Category C countries.

The Apparel Export Promotion Council requested for early finalisation of the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which, they said, could create 10 million jobs. Exporters raised concerns about the detrimental effect of the Asean FTA, saying a wide range of products were being imported at zero duty, while similar exports were unable to be made from India.

Sitharaman said the ministry would take up issues related to Customs with the ministries of external affairs and finance.

Engineering exports, accounting for around 21 per cent of total exports once again registered a fall of 29 per cent to $4.76 billion (Rs 32,353 crore) in December. Cumulative exports during the April-December period declined 18.06 per cent to $196.6 billion (Rs 13.3 lakh crore).

Later, Sitharaman said the commerce ministry has pitched for exemption of the 20 per cent minimum alternate tax on SEZs to make Indian merchandise globally competitive. She said SEZs still contributed 40 per cent of all exports.

She said India's traditional import partners in Africa and Asia were also facing currency volatility and the effects of the global downturn.

She said the government needed to calculate how best to provide stimulus to the economy. In the budget, she said the government might have to find a way to stick to the 3.5 per cent fiscal deficit target and increase capital spending at the same time.