At a special meeting convened on October 7th  by the Commerce Ministry with representatives of 27 Export Promotion Councils to discuss ways to promote exports, Commerce Secretary Ms. Rita A.Teaotia announced some immediate sops and promised further action based on the suggestions received.

Ms Teaotia told the meeting that the government had decided to increase the allocations for export incentive schemes in the current financial year from the earlier Rs. 18,000 crore to Rs. 21,000 crore and this amount was likely to be available for allocations in the coming week. She also said that the suggestions received from the EPCs will be crystallised in a concrete form and specific actions would be taken by the Ministry to facilitate exporters.

GJEPC was represented by Praveenshankar Pandya who briefly presented the reasons for the slowdown in exports in the gem and jewellery sector, and highlighted some of the key policy changes that could help in the given situation.

Specific suggestions from GJEPC included:  introduction of Presumptive Taxation for the diamond sector; pursuing FTAs with countries with prohibitive import duties; inclusion of gem and jewellery industry under interest subvention scheme; speedy resolution of taxation issues with regard to  the SNZ in Mumbai; separate ITC HS Code for natural and lab grown diamonds; ensuring availability of duty free gold by nominated agencies to small and medium jewellery exporters; implementation of single window system for all clearances in SEZs; re-negotiation of US GSP benefit for Indian jewellery sector; introduction of Ice Gate system at ports and SEZ Online System should be integrated thereby removing the paperwork immediately, amongst others.

Other EPCs at the meeting included those for Apparel, Carpet, Cashew, Chemicals, Cotton, Leather, Electronics & Computer Software, Handicrafts, Handloom, Indian Silk, Plastics, Powerloom, Sports Goods, Synthethic & Rayon Textiles, Wool & Woollen, EOUs & SEZ, Oilseeds & Produce, Telecom, Pharmexcil etc.  

The major issues highlighted by the Export Promotion Councils related to early refund of the duty drawback amounts, credit of interest subvention, increase in the incentives given under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), governance issues relating to delays in clearances, addition of more items under the MEIS, request for increase in MEIS incentives for certain items, agreements with specific countries to promote exports of certain items.

The Commerce Secretary said that as the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 was drawn after extensive deliberations, it may not be possible to make changes in schemes like the Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme (MEIS) very frequently.

The meeting was also attended by senior officers of the Ministry and DGFT.

Pic Cap:

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia (3rd frm left) with representatives of EPCs at the meeting