Exporters Seek 10% Devaluation Of Re

Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) has appealed the Union finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to readjust the dollar by at least 10 per cent to enable Indian exporters to become competitive.

At an open house meet on Exim policy 1997-2002 here, FIEO president Ramu S Deora said during the weekend, the domestic finance interest has been reduced but export finance interest has not been reduced.

I appeal toReserve Bank of India to reduce the rate of interest for export finance so that exporters can become competitive and also get good exchange rates, he said.

The country's imports have declined substantially and, therefore, the demand for foreign currency has declined considerably.

 

On the other side, the rupee has become strong against dollar, he said.

The dollar has appreciated by 15 to 20 per cent. The neighbouring countries like Malaysia and China have devalued their currency by about 10 per cent and Indian goods in other countries have become uncompetitive.

Deora said during last year, the export performance was not satisfactory and this year also exporters faced a lot of inconveniences due to transporters strike which substantially affected their export business.

He also urged that credits available to exporters under the old pass book scheme be made transferable at the same port.

This would give boost to exports enabling exporters to encash their blocked money immediately.

The export and import policy for 1997-2002 has ushered in a greater degree of decentralisation and simplified the export procedures besides providing for increased efficiency and speed through computerisation of the export administration at important stages.

The welcome features in the policy include waving of bank guarantee for export houses, trading houses, star trading houses and super star trading houses against export promotion and credit guarantee licenses, lowering of duty from 15 per cent to 10 per cent without raising the export obligation and reducing the threshold limit under the zero duty scheme to Rs 5 crore for agriculture and allied sectors.

These steps would help the small scale industries and agricultural sectors' thrust towards exports and also encourage exploration of new markets.

To meet the rising demand from overseas buyers for imformation on Indian suppliers of goods and services, the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisaton has prepared a CD-ROM of its Indian exporters directory alongwith a live trade and tender enquiry section on its web site on Internet.

Deora said FIEO has plans to set up warehouses at various strategic centres such as Middle East, Europe, Africa and Latin America to encourage small-scale sectors and tiny sectors.

Towards this FIEO had already set up one warehouse-cum-display centre in Dubai.