The Hindu : Business : Exim Policy scheme announced to promote high-tech exports

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 20, 2007
ePaper

Business

Business

Exim Policy scheme announced to promote high-tech exports

Sandeep Dikshit

Focus Product, Focus Market schemes expanded; fuel duty under DEPB

PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

BOOSTING TRADE: Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath (centre), with Jairam Ramesh (right), Minister of State for Commerce, and Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry, releasing the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy (2004-09) in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The Government on Thursday announced a host of incentives to boost exports from several sectors including a new scheme covering high-technology products, as part of the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy. The measures would help maintain the 25 per cent compounded growth rate in exports witnessed in the past three years, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said. With exports accounting for one-third of the country's gross domestic product, he said the intention behind the fine-tuning of the trade policy this year was to encourage new areas such as high tech exports and build on healthy growth rates in farm produce. Some popular schemes have been enlarged to accommodate more product lines.

Processed foods

In order to incentivise agro-exports and ensure more inclusive growth, the Vishesh Krishi and Gramin Udyog Yojna is being expanded to include more farm commodities, food preparations, forest produce and furniture.

Under a new scheme, exporters of agro processed food would receive duty credit scrips equal to 10 per cent of the exported value which could be used for importing post-harvest infrastructure such as cold storages and pack houses. The Minister expects the scheme to shift subsistence farmers to producing marketable surpluses by crop diversification.

Another target for ensuring inclusive growth is the handloom, handicrafts, cottage and tiny industries segments. The new initiatives will provide for tools, machinery and equipment for handicrafts, exemption from duty on effluent treatment plants for handloom and handicraft units and extension of the export obligation period for cottage and tiny industrial sector under the export promotion capital goods scheme from eight to 12 years.

The allocation for the focus product scheme is being increased by more than 50 per cent to Rs. 1,000 crore and seven more product lines have been added. The additions are mica, barley, oats, soyabean, cigar/cheroots, bovine fats and copra.

The focus market scheme too has been enlarged to include 16 more nations including 10 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. Mr. Kamal Nath said as the popular Duty Entitlement Passbook scheme would end in March next year, all stakeholders have been asked to submit their views on a more WTO compliant alternative by the end of next month.

Duty-free samples

The Minister also announced a new scheme giving duty credit of 10 per cent on incremental export growth for exports of high tech items. The Commerce Ministry is in dialogue with the Ministry of Science and Technology to draw up a list of items, subject to a maximum of Rs. 15 crore per firm.

Amidst applause from exporters, the Commerce Minister increased the duty on import of duty free samples to Rs. 75,000, made exporters eligible for reimbursement of cost of duty on fuel and special additional duty and scrapped the "present restrictive requirement'' of block-wise fulfilment of export obligations to reduce transaction costs. Those 100 per cent export oriented units, which do not avail themselves of direct tax benefit, are allowed to benefit from the Focus Market/Focus Product and Vishesh Krish and Gram Yajana schemes to encourage employment generation.

Developers and co-developers of SEZs will be entitled to all duty exemption and remission schemes.

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

Business

News Update

Stories in this Section