New Delhi: The government today extended sops worth Rs1,052 crore to exporters, particularly for the labour-intensive textile, handicrafts and leather sectors, to help them see through the fragile economic recovery globally, reports PTI.
"We are not yet out of the woods," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said while extending the schemes like Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB), under which taxes are reimbursed to exporters, subsidised interest and sops for import of capital goods.
Releasing the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, he said the revenue implication of these measures would be Rs1,052 crore.
The government made it clear that the popular DEPB scheme, which has been in vogue for over a decade, is being extended for the last time.
"Recognising the fragile recovery and the prevailing uncertainties (in the global markets), I have been able to obtain extension of DEPB one last time for a further period of six months till 30 June, 2011", Mr Sharma said.
Experts said drawing the curtains on the DEPB scheme was inevitable as it was considered incompatible with the global trade rules under World Trade Organisation (WTO).
However, commerce secretary Rahul Khullar indicated to reporters that the ministry might formulate an alternative scheme.
A number of additional products from sectors like engineering, leather, textiles and jute have also been added to the existing two per cent interest subvention scheme.
Handloom, handicrafts, carpet and the SMEs have been getting this facility, which will now be available till 31 March, 2011.
As regards the prospect of the current fiscal, the minister said: "We are on course to achieving export target ($200 billion) for 2010-11". Exports in the previous fiscal totalled $178.6 billion in the midst of the global economic crisis, which affected demand in the developed world.
The government also extended the zero-duty Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme by one year to 31March, 2012. The scheme, which was announced in August last year, was to expire on 31 March, 2011.
Steps to reduce transaction cost of exports too were announced in the policy. At present, transaction costs are estimated at 7%-8% of the exports value.
India Inc and exporters’ bodies today expressed satisfaction over the steps taken by the government in wake of the global demand slowdown and domestic resource constraints.
"It is a forward looking policy," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president A Sakthivel said.
Most chambers, including Ficci and CII, welcomed the policy supplement, amid promises that the transaction cost for exporters would be brought down by 40 per cent.
Inside story of the National Stock Exchange’s amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
1-year online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
30-day online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
Complete access to Moneylife archives since inception ( till the date of your subscription )
