Budget 2016: Govt to take measures to support export sector

Jaitley said the duty drawback scheme has been widened and deepened to include more products and countries

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that more support will be provided to exporters to give a boost to overseas shipments.

"The duty drawback scheme has been widened and deepened to include more products and countries. The government will continue to take measures to support the export sector," Jaitley said in his Budget speech for 2016-17.

Under the scheme, the government refunds duties on imported inputs for export items.

Exports dipped for the 14th month in a row, down 13.6% in January to $21 billion due to fall in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods, although trade deficit showed improvement.

Imports shrank 11% to $28.71 billion last month, resulting in a trade deficit of $7.63 billion, lowest in eleven months. In February last year, the deficit was $ 6.85 billion.

For the first 10 months of the current fiscal, cumulative exports declined by 17.65% to $217.67 billion, as against $264.32 billion in April-January period of 2014-15.