Indian industry lauds EXIM policy
Tuesday, 01 April 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Indian industry has welcomed the new Export and Import (EXIM) policy unveiled Monday by Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley. It described the trade liberalisation and the special focus on agriculture and services sector as the right strategy to make the country globally competitive. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) hailed the removing of export restrictions on five items including paddy, except India's prized basmati rice, cotton linters, rare earth (minerals), silk cocoons, and family planning devices except condoms. "The removal of the five items from the restricted list of exports would contribute sizeably to the overall export effort and help attain the goal of one percent share of world trade," the chamber said in a statement. Assocham said the accent on export of services, flexibility to the incentive scheme, consolidation of agri-export zones and special focus on potential high growth sectors is a welcome step. "The Assocham's suggestion of making India a global manufacturing hub was reflected in increasing the share of the manufacturing sector in exports. Sectors like textiles, engineering, auto-components, drugs and pharmaceuticals had recorded more than 20 percent export growth," the chamber said. With over 16 percent growth, India is expected to clock exports worth $50 billion during 2002-03 fiscal up from $44 billion last year. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in particular lauded the focus on the entertainment sector, which it has been championing. The government move to back the entertainment sector is expected to help the industry attract innovative means of financing. "Venture capital financing together with the strengthening of intellectual property rights (IPR) will create the enabling conditions for the entertainment sector exports to take off," said FICCI in a statement. Complimenting the focus on agriculture and services as engines of growth, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said, "The big picture envisaged in the policy of identifying engines of growth and building on them is one that CII fully endorses. The procedural simplifications and the move to co-ordinate with the finance ministry is also welcome." "One of the most welcome announcements is that the commerce and finance ministries will now work together in implementing the EXIM policy announcements. This means that the long wait for notifications to be issued by the finance ministry that was a regular feature in earlier years is a thing of the past," said CII president Ashok Soota. A significant feature of this year's EXIM policy, according to the CII, was the initiative to proactively address the needs of different sectors and make significant changes in the policy. PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) president P.K. Jain felt the exporting community would be greatly relieved by the continuation of the various duty neutralisation schemes, as stability in the policies was very essential, especially in the current scenario of global export pessimism and the emerging Iraq situation. This chamber of north India has strongly urged the government to chalk out and publicise a road map in advance for the proposed consolidation of the various export incentive schemes so that the exporting community has adequate time to adapt their operations to the likely changes. Jain hoped the focus given by the government to the development of infrastructure in export clusters would help in rapid development of the infrastructure facilities so that the competitiveness of Indian exports in terms of cost and availability of infrastructure improved. The industry expressed hope that the plans to implement electronic data inter-exchange will be rapidly and vigorously pursued to minimise procedural transaction costs. Presenting the new EXIM policy, Jaitley had admitted that high procedural transaction costs was a major handicap faced by Indian exporters.
Source: IANS