The Hindu : Front Page : Slew of incentives for exporters

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Friday, Aug 28, 2009
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Slew of incentives for exporters

Sujay Mehdudia

Extended tax holiday and duty refund

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

SETTING TARGETS: Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma and Minister of State Jyotiraditya Scindia release the new Foreign Trade Policy in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: In a bid to boost exports and save jobs in export-oriented industries, the new Foreign Trade Policy, unveiled on Thursday, seeks to give incentives, including extended tax holiday and duty refund to exporters. It also allows duty-free capital goods import to insulate them from global recession.

Unveiling the five-year policy, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma promised to re-visit it after two years keeping in mind the current economic uncertainty.

The Minister has set an ambitious target of $200 billion worth exports for the next fiscal, a feat the country failed to achieve in 2008-09 due to a slump in global demand.

“India has not been affected to the same extent as other economies of the world; yet our exports suffered a decline in the last 10 months due to a contraction in demand in the traditional markets. The protectionist measures being adopted by some of these countries have aggravated the problem,” he said.

While exports for the April-June quarter contracted by 31 per cent, Mr. Sharma set a growth target of 15 per cent for 2009-10. “I would be hesitant to hazard a guess on the nature and extent of this recovery and the time the major economies will take to return to there pre-recession growth levels,” he said.

Mr. Sharma announced extension of income tax holiday for export units for one more year and continuance of the duty refund scheme till December 2010, along with enhanced assistance for the scheme for development of markets. The aim of the policy was to arrest and reverse the declining trend of exports, he said.

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