Exporters exempted from filing documents in physical form

With an aim to simplify procedures for exporters, the government today exempted them from mandatory filing of documents in physical form to obtain registration certificates for shipment of few commodities.
For commodities like cotton and cotton yarn, an exporter has to obtain registration certificates (RCs) for their shipment.
"There shall be no requirement of submitting any document in electronic filing for obtaining RCs," Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.
It said that the requirement of submission of hard copies of the documents such as printout of online application, Letter of Credit or foreign inward remittance certificate or proof of advance payment and export contract is "dispensed with".

"There shall be no other change in either the policy or conditions for export of cotton, cotton yarn, non-basmati rice, wheat and sugar notified earlier through respective notifications, public notices, policy circulars etc," it added.
The step would help in reducing transaction cost for exporters.

There are certain commodities for which online registration procedure has been prescribed for export.
It was made mandatory in July 2013 that after filing online applications, exporters are required to furnish printout of the application submitted online besides other certificates and paper, it added.
The country's exports was suffering from the cost disadvantage. The average cost to an exporter on account of transaction cost has been monetised at a level of USD 945 per container as compared to USD 460 in China, USD 450 in Malaysia and USD 625 in Vietnam.

In April-November 2013, exports grew by 6.27 per cent to USD 204 billion while imports aggregated at USD 304 billion. Trade deficit for the period stands at USD 100 billion.