Letters: Old wine in a new bottle

The launch of Trade Infrastructure for Exports Scheme (TIES) by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman — it was earlier announced in the Budget — is simply old wine in a new bottle. This scheme was earlier called Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development of Exports (ASIDE); it was discontinued in 2015 when states’ shares of the Centre’s net tax revenue increased from 32 per cent to 42 per cent, in line with the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.

TIES now envisages an outlay of Rs 600 crore with an annual allocation of Rs 50 crore and the Centre funding 50 per cent of projects focusing on export infrastructure from the first mile to the last.

The changes made in the new scheme are welcome and should play a vital role in boosting competitiveness of exports by providing a necessary infrastructure base unlike ASIDE. What is needed is seriousness on the part of all stakeholders — the Export Promotion Councils (EPC), Commodity Boards (CB) and other agencies — to implement the scheme in letter and spirit. 

Grant-in-aid under this scheme, in addition to Market Development Assistance given to EPCs/CBs, should have targets and achieve export performance levels; progress must be reviewed periodically so that the objectives of the scheme are achieved in toto. Bottlenecks in the implementation of ASIDE such as cost overruns due to delays should be removed now. The thrust of the scheme should be on bringing in big export projects so as to gain in terms of visibility and impact.

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