ARUN SHOURIE BEGINS PRE-EXIM POLICY CONSULTATIONS
WITH TRADE AND INDUSTRY INTERACTIVE MEETINGS HELD WITH EOU/EPZ/SEZs,
EPCs AND COMMODITY BOARDS
Shri Arun Shourie,
Minister for Commerce & Industry and Disinvestment, has begun
the process of pre-Exim Policy consultations with two interactive
meetings held here today – one with the Export Oriented Units
(EOUs)/Export Processing Zones (EPZs)/ Special Economic Zones
(SEZs) units represented by the Confederation of Export Units
(CEU) and the other with the Chairmen of the Export Promotion
Councils (EPCs) and Commodity Boards. During the extensive
deliberations, the Minister assured the exporters that notifications
would henceforth be issued simultaneously with the announcement
of the Exim Policy in order to minimise the scope of further interpretations
and to speed up policy implementation. Responding to the issue
of pending notifications raised by the participants arising out
of the policy announced earlier this year, Shri Shourie indicated
that the matter had been taken up with the Ministry of Finance
and the pending notifications for the current year would be issued
within this week.
Shri Shourie also
proposed the setting up of an Implementation Cell in the Ministry
to follow up on implementation of policies. He said the suggestions
received from the exporters today on various issues such as continuation
of DEPB (Duty Entitlement Pass Book) Scheme, restoration of benefits
under Section 10-A and 10-B of the Income Tax Act and the request
for setting up of an EPC for EOU/EPZ/SEZ units would be examined
and given due consideration in consultation with the concerned
Departments. The Minister agreed with the exporters on the point
that DEPB was WTO-compatible as it was merely a duty neutralisation
scheme and not an incentive. Observing that the structure of regulations
had grown like a "coral reef" without any design, Shri Shourie
underlined the need for simplification of policies and procedures
and urged the exporters to come forward with new thinking on export
strategies. Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Commerce
& Industry; Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary; Shri
Vinay Bansal, Shri L.V. Saptharishi and Shri A.N. Tiwari, Additional
Secretaries in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, were present
at the meeting along with industry representatives.
Outlining the critical
issues concerning EOUs/EPZs/SEZs, Shri R. Veeramani, President
of CEU, said that an EPC for EOU/EPZs etc., would help in better
marketing of the scheme. Some of the other issues raised by CEU
related to domestic tariff area sales by EOU units; high transaction
costs; amendment of duty-drawback and DEPB rules to provide for
drawback on sales made to SEZ developers or SEZ units; and full
restoration of benefits under Section 10-A and 10-B of the Income
Tax Act. He also suggested that the provision of sub-contracting
should be extended to agro-EOUs and greater attention should be
paid to image building of Indian goods and services abroad.
Shri Deepak Puri,
Chairman, Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion
Council (ESC), along with Shri Nalin Kohli urged that there
should be consistency in policies and procedures so that policies
are not changed midstream without intimating the industry or EPCs;
DEPB should be continued and special additional duty (SAD) should
not be levied on exports under DEPB; labour laws should be at
par with the laws of the developed countries; and policies should
be framed to make India an attractive destination for relocation
of units in both hardware and software. They said that in the
wake of changing global economic scenario, a proactive approach
was needed to maintain high growth rate of IT exports from the
country. Shri Satish Dhanda, Chairman, Engineering Export Promotion
Council also raised the issue of labour laws, pointing out
that easing of labour laws in the SEZs would contribute greatly
to FDI generated exports as it had in China.
Shri Subhash Mittal,
Vice President, FIEO, urged that export promotion schemes
such as advance licence should continue while pointing out that
Kelkar Committee’s recommendations to withdraw export promotion
measures at one go could lead to drastic decline in exports besides
affecting the price competitiveness of Indian products and services
vis-à-vis the foreign ones. Joining the others in urging
effective implementation of policy provisions to cut delays and
achieve higher exports, he suggested that all export related departments
and agencies including Customs & Excise, ICDs, ports and banks
etc. should coordinate and integrate their functioning and sought
the continuance of DEPB to sustain the export momentum.
Shri Sanjay Kothari,
Chairman, Gems & Jewellery EPC (GJEPC), urged the Minister
to expedite advance remittance to facilitate direct import of
roughs from Russia – matter which the Minister indicated had already
been taken up with the RBI. GJEPC also suggested treating deemed
exports of SEZs as physical exports and exemption of the gem &
jewellery sector from transfer pricing norms. Shri Irshad Mirza,
Chairman, Council for Leather Exports (CLE), sought exemption
of duty for packaging material; duty-free fuel for captive power
plants in the leather sector; stability in the duty drawback rates
by fixing the drawback for a period of 5 years; and duty-free
inputs for all segments in the leather industry to enhance the
cost-competitiveness in the Indian leather and leather products.
Suggestions were
also made by CAPEXIL for opening of warehouses in the US market;
by the Tobacco Board for opening of lines of credit through the
Exim Bank for markets in Africa and Middle East; and by the APEDA
for easing of export restrictions in respect of certain items.
CHEMEXCIL has indicated that its market access initiative proposals
for supply of anti-retrovial drugs to the Least Developed Countries
and supply of generic drugs to the US and the UK have already
been considered by the Ministry of Commerce and on completion
of these projects market share of India in these sectors would
increase. Sectoral suggestions have also been received from Silk
EPC; Synthetic & Rayon Textiles EPC; Apparel EPC; and Tea
Board, Coffee Board, Rubber Board and Spices Board.
