Procedures to be made easier for exporters: Sitharaman

The government will work with various departments including environment, textiles and finance to boost exports to simplifying procedures towards improving the ease of doing business in the country, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

"The commerce ministry will follow up with environment, textiles, customs and finance for easing out of few more things related to export promotion so that there is an ease of doing business from the exporters point of view," Sitharaman told reporters after a meeting with export promotion councils (EPCs) here.

"Many of the issues which are enablers to better exports have been identified, issues which may have a bearing on the forthcoming budget were also raised," she said.

Several export related issues, including the impact of India-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) on the country's exports were raised at the meeting held as part of stakeholder consultations to discuss ways to boost exports, which have been in continuous decline for over a year.

Sitharaman said other issues discussed included non-tariff barriers of other countries, currency volatility, special economic zones, problems in dealing with customs authorities and service tax.

She said the exporters' concerns about the Asean FTA stems from the feeling that products are coming in at zero duty whereas similar exports are unable to be made from India.

The minister also said the government has not yet decided on fixing a minimum import price on certain steel products.

--Indo-Asian News service

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