The Hindu Business Line : Ministry plans open houses on foreign trade policy supplement

THE UNION MINISTER for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath (left), with the Vice-President, CII and Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, at the interactive session on Foreign Trade Policy and Procedures in the Capital on Friday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi April 20 To enable exporters to discuss their concerns related to the Foreign Trade Policy supplement announced on Thursday before the necessary notifications are issued, the Commerce Ministry would hold two open houses in the coming days, announced Mr Kamal Nath, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister.

While speaking at two separate sessions on the supplement organised by industry chamber FICCI and CII, Mr Nath said that the real issue in special economic zones (SEZs) is not the number of zones but the number of units set up in the SEZs. He stated that since it was not possible to have mega-sized SEZs in India as in case of China, it is, therefore, necessary that India has a higher number of SEZs to bring about rapid industrialisation and to give momentum to exports. "If we have limits on the size of SEZs, we cannot limit the number of SEZs," he said.

Mr Nath reiterated that the Government is committed to ensure that land acquisition for the purpose of SEZs is done in a fair and transparent manner.

He also said that agricultural exports, including fruits and vegetables, would be the next area for growth for Indian exports. "Our great area in the future will be in the field of agriculture exports," he said. The Minister highlighted the need to strengthen the infrastructure in the post-harvest stage to benefit from the opportunities in this area.

Mr Nath said the Government is looking at the possibility of setting up food parks and would provide the necessary assistance in this regard.

While speaking at the CII session, Secretary, Commerce Ministry, Mr Gopal K. Pillai, said that the Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana would get an additional allocation of Rs 200 crore for 2007-08. He said that the Government will soon issue appropriate notification to waive outstanding export obligations and the interest on delayed payments is going be on the same track as income tax.