Commerce Ministry held discussions with exporters: MEIS, credit, IGST refund issues raised

Exporters raised several issues such as credit and IGST refund at a meeting called by the commerce ministry on Thursday amid dip in the country's outbound shipments.

Exports contracted for the consecutive second month in September.

The meeting was chaired by Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan and was attended by export promotion councils.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said they flagged issues related to stoppage of filing of MEIS (Merchandise Exports from India Scheme), problems being faced by exporters at credit front and list of risky exporters.

"These issues are impacting exports. We urged the government to take action on this," FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said.

Trade Promotion Council of India Chairman Mohit Singla, who participated in the meeting, said India's export needs strategic thrust to come out of the plateaued growth.

"We suggested harnessing GI (geographical indication) products globally for enhanced acceptability across geographies, a national trade portal to address the trade enquiries generated globally and incentivising on the degree of value addition a player in SEZ (special economic zone) brings to a product, so that they remain advantageous compared to foreign exporter," he said.

India's exports remained in the negative zone for the second consecutive month in September, contracting by 6.57 per cent to USD 26 billion mainly on account of significant dip in shipments of petroleum, engineering, gems and jewellery and leather products.

Imports also declined by 13.85 per cent to USD 36.89 billion in September, narrowing the trade deficit to a seven-month low of USD 10.86 billion, according to the government data.

Out of the 30 key sectors, as many as 22 segments showed negative growth in exports in September.

The country's outbound shipments have remained subdued so far this year. It may have a bearing on the overall economic growth, which fell to over six-year low of 5 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year.

Industrial output declined by 1.1 per cent in August due to poor performance by manufacturing, power generation and mining sectors.

Ludhiana-based exporter S C Ralhan has called for immediate release of foreign trade policy by the government to arrest the downfall.