DGFT to come up with new policies to push exports

Jasleen Kaur

Expressing concern over the sharp decrease in India’s export, Director General of Foreign Trade Anup Wadhwan said the government will come out with different and new policies in which Indian exporters can play a crucial role.

Interacting with exporters in an open house meeting at the Federation of India Export Organisation (FIEO) headquarters in New Delhi, Wadhawan said India’s exports have gone through very difficult period over the last 16-17 months.

“The exports have been continuously declining even though it is consistent with the global trend. It is a matter of distress for the exporters also in terms of their aspiration not being fully met than in terms of the difficult environment that they are facing,” he said.

In April this year, India’s exports had fallen for 17th month in a row, contracting by 23.1% to $25.41 billion compared to $33 billion in April 2015.

FIEO had on Friday organised an interactive session “Open House Meet with DGFT” to discuss the exporters’ issues. Several senior officials from DGFT and exporters took part in the session.

Exporters present at the event highlighted the issue of high compliance cost which burdens Indian exporters and urged the DGFT to come up with a reasonable pricing arrangement.

Addressing their concerns, Federation of Indian Export Organisation Director General and CEO Ajay Sahai said, “If you can accept the self-certified copy of the tracking report given by the exporters instead of asking the report from the shipping company which increases the cost of compliance, it will be a much better relief for the export sector.”

Sahai also urged the DGFT to take a quick decision on settling the old pending cases of the Target Plus Scheme and the Incremental Export Incentive Scheme.

“We are aware that there are few exporters who have misused that scheme, we shall take suitable action against them. But those exporters who have taken such benefits into their costing and have paid income tax should be given relief very quickly,” Sahai said.