The Hindu Business Line : Aim for exports worth $100 b: Kamal Nath

THE Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, on Tuesday exhorted exporters to aim for the $100-billion mark in the current fiscal. This level, he said, was only $8 billion more than the export target of $92 billion set by the Government for 2005-06.

Addressing the export promotion councils (EPCs) and commodity boards at a mid-term export performance review meeting, Mr Kamal Nath urged exporters to venture into hitherto untapped markets or regions abroad where Indian products or services had negligible presence.

For the half-year (April-September 2005), India's merchandise exports stood at $43.2 billion.

He also admitted that there was need for export-friendly policies and that the prevailing disabling policies in some areas need to be transformed into enabling policies.

The Minister also announced the revised and final estimates of trade data available from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Services (DGCIS) for 2004-05.

Mr Kamal Nath said that merchandise exports last fiscal were estimated at $81 billion, indicating a record growth of 26 per cent. He also said that imports in 2004-05 were valued at $109 billion. Thus, India's engagement with the world economy was $190 billion in 2004-05.

Earlier, the Commerce Secretary, Mr S.N. Menon, and the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) indicated that the replacement for the duty entitlement passbook (DEPB) scheme would be finalised soon and that there would be a fairly long overlap period to ensure a smooth transition.

The new scheme would be WTO-compatible and fully neutralise certain State levies such as electricity, petroleum cess and sales tax.

EPCs' plea: The chiefs of EPCs asked the Government to rectify what they considered to be certain lacunae in the Revenue Department's recent move to extend the DEPB scheme beyond September. They also urged the Government to exempt exports from services tax, value-added tax, cash withdrawal tax and fringe benefit tax as all these were undermining the competitiveness of Indian exports.

For the EOUs sector, it was also suggested that the existing sunset clause under Section 10B of the Income-Tax Act be removed. On the issue of inverted duty structure that was raised by certain exporters, the Commerce Secretary responded by saying that the government was clear that corrections in respect of the inverted duty structure would be made in each budget. He also said that the Department of Commerce would, in its pre-budget memorandum for 2006-07, recommend tariff reductions on the lines of the Kelkar Committee.

Not to intervene in currency market: Later speaking to newspersons, Mr Kamal Nath made it clear that the Government would not intervene in the currency market to influence the level of the rupee against the US dollar.

"We don't intervene... We have never artificially calibrated the rupee," Mr Nath said.

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