The Hindu : Trade bodies hail Exim initiatives

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Business

Business

Trade bodies hail Exim initiatives

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. The premier trade bodies and exporters generally welcomed as `positive' the changes announced by the Union Commerce Minister, Arun Jaitley, in the Exim Policy today. These modifications would further help boost exports, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and other organisations said.

Observing that the new measurers are certain to provide an impetus to growth of exports, the FIEO chief, M. Rafeeque, lauded measures such as the Gold Card Scheme for exporters with proven track record for easy availability of export credit, launching of National Export Insurance Fund for underwriting high value projects and increase in equity base of ECGC for better risk management of exports.

Pointing out that some of the measures would help reduce transaction cost, he said that the extension of deemed export benefits with introduction of zero duty imports amounted to the meeting of the long-pending demand of the exporters and would give a level- playing field to the domestic industry.

Describing the changes as facilitation measures, the Confederation of Indian Industry said the steps would help reduce transaction costs and at the same time bring transparency in the system.

The CII Chief, Anand Mahindra, said the extension of benefits to other service providers in heritage hotels, one and two star hotels as well as standalone restaurants would enable an improvement of services and reduction of costs for tourists both domestic and foreign.

This would help the growth of the tourism sector in India.

The FICCI Chief, Y. K. Modi, said the Exim Policy initiatives would increase the global competitiveness of Indian manufacturing sector. This would enhance India's long-term export competitiveness.

Hailing the measurers as `positive changes', the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) and the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the alterations would help in putting the export efforts at a high pedestal besides facilitating simplification of import-export procedures. The Chairman of the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), P. K. Sandell, said software and hardware exports would now witness a quantum jump.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business