Package To Boost Exports Today

The government will announce a fresh incentive package for exports in Parliament today.

The package, to be unveiled by the commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde, was finalised at a meeting with the finance minister Yashwant Sinha yesterday.

At a separate meeting earlier in the day the commerce consultative committee has asked the commerce minister to reduce the cost of export credit which will enable Indian exporters to compete effectively in the global market.

Highlighting the poor export performance during the months of April-June this year, the minister while addressing the consultative committee said that this was primarily due to the recession in world trade and the adverse impact the South-East Asian currency crises.

 

The minister said that the currency crises in particular has led to an erosion of India's competitiveness which has led to the poor performance in exports.

Hegde told the committee that the country should shift its export emphasis from primary commodities to high-value and high tech products especially software to overcome the export decline.

Hegde added that exports must be treated as a national priority if the negative trend is to be reversed.

He said that procedures continued to be obstrusive and regulatory in actual implementation. He further added that computerisation will help in procedural simplification by eliminating the scope of human interference.

Responding to suggestions for strengthening the anti-dumping mechanism, Hegde informed the committee that a full fledged Anti-Dumping Directorate had been already been set up and it was already in operation.

On the same issue, the minister added that even though the Directorate was confronted with opposing interests, "the domestic industry will not be harmed". Apart from this the committee also suggested the formation of a separate trading corporation for chillies and well as tobacco .

They also asked the government to create a buffer stock for tobacco to stabalise its prices and promote exports.