No proposal at present to include toy industry under PLI scheme: Govt

There is no proposal at present with the government to include the toy industry under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, though it is providing all round support to the sector to make it more competitive, Parliament was informed on Friday.

The government has taken a series of steps such as raising Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on toys to 60 per cent in order to increase the domestic production and reduce the imports of toys, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"There is no such proposal with the government to include the toy industry under the PLI scheme at present," he said.

The objective of the scheme is to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and to create global champions in manufacturing.

In a separate reply to a question on exports, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said the exports by IT/ITeS units in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for 2020-21 were Rs 5.1 lakh crore.

Currently, there are 425 formally approved SEZs in the country and as on date, 376 are notified and 268 are operational.

SEZs are primarily private investment driven initiatives.

"The delay in setting up and operationalizing SEZs could be attributed to several reasons including adverse business climate due to changed global economic situation, changes in fiscal incentives, etc," Patel said in a separate reply.

As per SEZ law, any goods removed from the region to the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) attracts customs duties including anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties under the Customs act, 1975.

On a question related to sugar sector at the World Trade Organisation, she said India has appealed against the WTO's dispute panel report on the grounds that the panel's findings are unreasonable, undermine logic and rationale and are not supported by the organization's rules.

Australia, Brazil and Guatemala filed a dispute challenging certain schemes of India for its sugar and sugarcane sector, before the WTO.

The Department of Commerce submits notifications to WTO after carrying out due diligence on the information collected from various sources, she said.

Export subsidy notification requires detailed consultation with relevant stakeholders, both at the central and state levels, she added.