Committee to assist long-term export strategy plan

Manufacturing in India can be much more than what it is today, from the point of view of what it contributes towards the GDP, says the Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The Dollar Business Bureau Exports-The-Dollar-Business The Union Commerce Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, assured the Government of India’s commitment to ‘ease of doing business’, while also asserting a full-fledged and extended support to the Indian exporters. Stating that exporters are key to ‘Make in India’ initiative, the Commerce Minister said, “When I say manufacturing in India, both in volume and value, I also include our exporters, who even in difficult times have kept their nose above water.” Referring to the recently-launched ‘e-biz portal’ by the Finance Ministry, as a great boon for manufacturers and exporters, she said another portal will help exporters find information about the product in demand, so as to plan and expand their markets. The Minister also informed about the Commerce Ministry’s plans to constitute a Committee that can suggest thrust areas and help in formulating a long-term export strategy. Speaking further on the Indian exporters’ competency in the global markets, she said the profile of Indian exporters has changed over the years and now, there is no need to have any doubt on Indian products quality-wise globally. However, restrictions to Indian exports are occurring as a result of protectionist measures of few countries which wanted to keep Indian exports at a distance so as to boost their own exporters and upcoming industries. The manufacturing in India can be much more than what it is today, from the point of view of what it contributes towards the GDP, she added. The Commerce Minister was addressing the gathering at the ‘ECGC Dun & Bradstreet Export Performance Award ceremony’ in Mumbai. As a part of the event, the Minister also gave away to 33 companies from various fields under overall export performance, innovation, Risk management practices and SEZ exports during FY2013-14, which also include women-entrepreneurs category, among others. Companies with minimum 10% revenue from exports during FY 2013-14 were eligible for nominations. While the Indian software major TCS won Best Overall Exporter Award under large companies’ category, Pune-based Serum Institute of India bagged the Best Manufacturer Exporter Award. The event was also attended by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Arvind Mehta, Geeta Muralidhar, CMD of ECGC, key personnel of financial institutions, export houses, industry and corporate bodies.