Govt seeks traders' input to curb exports decline

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today met exporter bodies to seek their inputs to address the decline in outbound shipments and improve ease of doing business.
The Commerce Ministry also asked the export promotion councils (EPCs) to pro-actively take up the matters of exporters and assured that it will do its utmost to boost shipments.
In a meeting with Sitharaman, the 14 Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) demanded interest subvention for gems and jewellery sector; promotion of Brand India on consistent basis, and sops for project exports, among other demands.
They also made a case that Indian missions abroad should be mobilised to provide necessary support to exporters.

"It was general consensus that in terms of volumes, most of the commodities have shown resilience and have maintained the levels achieved in the previous fiscal 2014-15.
"However, keeping in view the various initiatives taken by the Government recently and global factors, there was feeling that exports would increase," Commerce Ministry statement said in a statement after the meeting.

Later talking to reporters, Sitharaman said: "I hope to have in this financial year a big impact on our export performance".
When asked how much the shipments would increase, the Minister said it would depend on factors like, currency volatility, commodity prices and backlog of inventory.

She stressed the volume of exports have not suffered, but because of the lower commodity prices and currency fluctuations, the returns on export realization have dipped.
Sitharamana also said the interest subvention scheme has "really taken off well" and export-related organisations are utilizing the scheme fully.
She also said that through the FTAs government is also making sure that "we will retain our traditional markets, open up newer markets and with an FTA give our exporters advantage into markets which otherwise they were not able to access. So this year we hope to through the FTAs ensure that exporters have better access to markets".

After the meeting, Federation of Indian Export Organisation President S C Ralhan said among other things they have requested that the interest subvention be extended to merchant exporters because they buy from MSME manufacturers
For April-February period of last fiscal, cumulative exports declined by 16.73 per cent to USD 238.41 billion, as against USD 286.3 billion in the same period of 2014-15.
The Ministry statement further said the EPCs were advised to interact with their members constantly and cooperate with the Commerce Department to take the policy interventions introduced from time to time to the grass root level.
Sitharaman informed that as many as 28 states have

appointed export commissioner and 18 have framed export/trade policies.
On this, she said the DIPP and the commerce secretary will coordinate with concerned ministries including CBEC and IT to map export potential of states and understanding the role of export commissioners so that they can be a one point contact.
Further, the minister said the Tamil Nadu representative raised the issue of common affluent treatment plants. "I have asked them to do a complete assessment of leather industry there," she added.
Trade ministers and officials of eight states, including Assam, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, participated in the meeting.
Sitharaman exhorted the members of the council to jointly address impediments in trade and infrastructure gaps that are adversely affecting exports.

The Minister asked the states to expedite preparation of export strategies in line with the Foreign Trade Policy and appoint Export Commissioners.
Speaking at the council's meeting, Chander Mohan Patowary, Minister from Assam flagged issues of NE states.
He said there is a need to promote higher investments in infrastructure and trade centres.
P Narayana, Minister from Andhra Pradesh requested assistance for NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited labs at Guntur and support of Centre for setting up a logistic institute.
Amar Aggarwal, Minister from Chattisgarh sought measures to enhance the competitiveness of the tribal states by promoting forest produce.

Rohit Bhai Patel, Minister from Gujarat emphasized the need to improve quality standards in government procurement.
C P Singh, Minister from Jharkhand stressed the need to increase export of agri products. He informed that they have formulated an export policy recently.
Kerala Industry & Trade Minister A C Moideen, sought proactive measures to curb liberal imports of agricultural products to ensure the livelihood security of domestic farmers.
He said that farmers must be insulated from the crippling impact of FTAs.
Rajasthan Industry Minister Rajpal Shekawat sought assistance for land locked states.
He also requested for setting up ICD at Bhiwadi and Sirohi for promoting exports from the industrial area.

The Heads of the apex trade bodies FIEO, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII gave their views and suggestions for improving exports amidst the challenging world economic scenario.