The Hindu : Business : Chambers hail trade policy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 09, 2005

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Chambers hail trade policy

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. The Foreign Trade Policy announced by the government today bas been welcomed by the apex chambers for attempting to tackle the ground level problems of the exporters.

Hailing it as "a stupendous effort" at addressing the concerns of exporters, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry President, Onkar S. Kanwar, said the document addressed some of the holistic issues and fine-tuned the nuts and bolts of the trade policy. Like other chambers, he congratulated the Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, on extending the Duty Entitlement Pass-book (DEFB) scheme until a new scheme is put in place. Similarly, the minister's announcement that the Prime Minister had directed that all proceedings for recovery of tax on benefits derived under the DEPB scheme would be held in abeyance till a new scheme enforced was commended.

The proposal to set up an Inter State trade Council pragmatic, the chambers said, while suggesting that the Council should act like an empowered committee whose recommendations should be mandatory.

O. P. Garg, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said creation of the council would help active involvement of States in developing export-related infrastructure and removing taxes and local levies imposed on inputs for export production.

Welcoming other provisions of the policy, Mr. Garg said the package announced for marine products would help this sector which had been hit by imposition of anti-dumping duty in the U.S. and Tsunami. The relaxation of export obligation under EPCG for minor ports including ICD and CFS would help to modernise port operations and addressing the issue of congestion at major gateway ports.

However, the delay in announcing the reimbursement of cost disability factors, which had been admitted in the Report submitted by the Committee on Procedure Simplification and Reduction of Transaction Cost, has dampened the enthusiasm of the exporting community, Mr. Garg said, adding that the lack of any package for textiles, pharmaceutical and auto-component sectors, which have the potential to achieve export to the tune of $70 billion by 2015, was a cause of concern.

Y. C. Deveshwar, President (designate), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said the main thrust of the trade policy was on bringing in a much larger cross section of the Indian population into the export arena. It would generate all round growth in the economy.

The renewed emphasis on facilitating low cost import of capital goods for agriculture, retail, SMEs, marine products, poultry, dairy, and handlooms, would enhance export competitiveness in these employment intensive sectors.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India president, Mahendra K. Sanghi, complimented the Commerce and Industry Minister for presenting an employment friendly, WTO compatible foreign trade policy.

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