The Minister of
Commerce and Industry, Shri Suresh Prabhu released the much awaited Mid-term Review
of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 today in New Delhi.
The review was released
in the presence of the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri CR
Chaudhary, Finance Secretary, Shri Hasmukh Adhia, Commerce Secretary, Smt. Rita
Teaotia, Secretary Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Shri Ramesh
Abhishek and the Director General of Foreign Trade, Shri Alok Chaturvedi.
Shri Prabhu in
his keynote address, said that the FTP will leverage the long term advantages
of the historic reform of the GST, in terms of reduced compliance and logistics
costs. The FTP will focus on exports from labour intensive and MSME sectors by
way of increased incentives in order to increase employment opportunities.
Emphasis will be given on ‘Ease of Trading’ across borders. Information based
policy interventions will be ensured through a State-of-the-Art Trade Analytics
Division. While share in traditional products and markets will be maintained, the
focus will be on new products and new markets. The Commerce Minister focused on
transparency and trust with the industry and maintenance of Quality Standards
to succeed in the international market.
The Minister of
State for Commerce stated that the revised FTP will help in making Indian
exports more competitive. Under the dynamic and visionary leadership of the Prime
Minister the government has made schemes for boosting manufacturing and
exports. The issue of working capital blockage due to GST has also been
resolved. Shri Chaudhary stressed on the need to diversify the export basket.
The Export of agricultural products will be encouraged for increasing farmers’
incomes.
The Finance
Secretary emphasized that the Government has been very sensitive towards
exporters. The Export Package was approved by the GST Council resolving the
problem of blockage of working capital. He further stated that ITC and IGST
refunds for exporters are being expedited and explained in detail the process
and procedure for refund of IGST claims for exporters. He reiterated that GST
will be very beneficial for exporters in the long run. The Ministry of Finance
will continue to work in collaboration with the Department of Commerce and
exporters to address their operational issues.
The Commerce
Secretary stated that the FTP will continue with ‘Whole of Government’ approach
involving all Ministries and State Governments. Over the last 10 years, exports
have grown at a CAGR of 8 percent which is fairly creditable. The government
recognizes that the Medium and Small scale industries require handholding and
thus rates for MEIS for such sectors have been enhanced. An important
consideration in framing this Policy has been the need to ensure that the FTP
is aligned with both India’s interests in trade negotiations, as well as its
obligations and commitments under various WTO agreements. The biggest
challenge, however, is to address constraints within the country, such as
infrastructure bottlenecks, high transaction costs, complex procedures,
constraints in manufacturing and inadequate diversification in our services.
Towards this end, she stated, the Department of Commerce has set up a new
Division to promote integrated and streamlined logistics development in the
country. For addressing gap in infrastructure sector, the Trade Infrastructure
for Exports Scheme has been launched
Highlights of Mid Term Review
of FTP
While restoring the
benefits under the export promotion schemes of duty free imports under Advanced
Authorisation, Export Promotion Capital Goods and 100 percent Export Oriented
Units and thus resolving the problem of blocked working capital for
exporters following the roll out of GST, the FTP review has focused on
increasing the incentives for labour intensive MSME sectors. Export incentives
under Merchandise Exports from India (MEIS) have been increased by 2 percent
across the board for labour intensive MSME sectors leading to additional annual
incentive of Rs. 4,567 crore. This is in addition to the already announced
increase in MEIS incentives from 2 percent to 4 percent
for Ready-made Garments and Made Ups in the labour intensive Textiles Sector
with an additional annual incentive of Rs. 2,743 crore Further, incentives
under Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) have also been increases by 2%
percent leading to additional annual incentive of Rs. 1,140 crore.
Thus, incentives
under the two schemes have been increased by 33.8 percent (Rs. 8,450 cr)
from the existing incentives of Rs. 25,000 crore leading to boost in exports
from the labour intensive sectors and increased employment opportunities. Some
of the major sectors benefited are as under:
·
Rs. 2,743 crore for Ready-made Garments and Made Ups in
Textiles Sector
·
Rs 749 crore for Leather and Footwear Articles,
·
Rs 921 crore for handmade carpets of silk, handloom and coir and
Jute products
·
Rs 1,354 crore for Agriculture and related products,
·
Rs 1,140 crore for Services including Hotel & Restaurant,
Hospital, Educational services etc.
·
Rs 759 crore for Marine products
·
Rs 369 crore for Telecom and Electronics Components
·
Rs 193 crore for Medical and Surgical Equipment.
Further, the validity
period of Duty Credit Scrips has been increased from 18 to 24 months and GST
rates on transfer/sale of scrips has been reduced to zero. Issue of Gold
availability for exporters has been resolved by allowing Specified Nominated
Agencies to import Gold without payment of IGST. Support to Export Credit
Guarantee Corporation is also being enhanced to increase insurance cover to
exporters particularly MSME’s exploring new or difficult markets.
A new scheme
of Self-Assessment based duty free procurement of inputs required for exports has
been introduced. There will be no need of Standard Input Output Norms in such
cases and this will eliminate delays. It is based on
trust. Exporters will self-certify the requirement of duty free raw materials/
inputs. The scheme would initially be available to the Authorized Economic
Operators (AEOs) and will get expanded as more exporters join the AEO program. The
scheme will improve ease of doing business.
Contact@DGFT
service has been launched on the DGFT website (www.dgft.gov.in) as a single
window contact point for exporters and importers for resolving all foreign
trade related issues and also to give suggestions. Exporters/Importers can
track status of their queries through the assigned reference number. Feedback
mechanism has also been provided. High level monitoring of disposal is being
ensured
A State-of-the-Art
Trade Analytics division has been set up in DGFT for data based policy
actions. The initiative envisages processing trade information from DGCIS and
other national and international databases related to India’s key export
markets and identify specific policy interventions.
A new Logistics
Division has been created in the Department of Commerce to develop and co-ordinate
integrated development of the logistics sector, by way of policy changes,
improvement in existing procedures, identification of bottlenecks and gaps, and
introduction of technology based interventions in this sector. These steps
would improve India’s ranking in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and
promote exports and enhanced growth.
Focus will be
given to Ease of Trading across borders. A professional team to
handhold, assist and support exporters in their export related problems,
accessing export market and meeting regulatory requirements. The team will also
examine the procedures and processes in clearances related to trading across
borders for their simplification and rationalization and track progress. Dwell
time at ICDs, ports and airports is being closely monitored in coordination
with Customs, and infrastructure Ministries.
The Foreign
Trade Policy will continue to be reviewed and evaluated regularly for
addressing concerns of the exporters, simplification of procedures and for
promotion of exports.
Highlights of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 Click Here to
See
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NW