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"There is hardly any scope for further liberalisation, but we need to reduce the transaction cost and time of exporters. So, we are working on this module of green channeling the honest exporters."

Kolkata , Dec. 2

IN an effort to reduce the transaction cost of exporters and make them more competitive in the global market, the Commerce Ministry is preparing a green channel facility for law-abiding exporters.

This was announced by Mr Lalit Mansingh, Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

According to him, all the DGFT offices are short-listing exporters who have broken some law or other.

The IEC (import export code) of these exporters will be available on DGFT Web site and they would be subjected to intense scrutiny by export-related organisations. Those who do not feature on list will be allowed to enjoy the green channel facility.

Mr Mansingh said that the move was aimed at helping exporters who are trying wholeheartedly to increase the national foreign exchange earnings and not penalise all for the fault of a few.

"This is a risk-based management module. We have realised that there is hardly any scope for further liberalisation but we still need to reduce the transaction cost and time of exporters. So, we are working on this module of green channeling the honest exporters."

Later, speaking to newspersons, he said that the final list of the defaulting exporters would be ready within a month.

All export-related Government agencies, including the banking sector, would have access to this list. The DGFT complimented the exporters for registering a 20 per cent export growth in dollar terms in 2002-03.

Though it would be difficult to repeat this success in the current financial year, he was optimistic of a growth of at least 12 per cent. The Exim Policy of 2002 has already targeted annual incremental export growth of 12 per cent till 2007 to garner a minimum share of one per cent of global trade.

In this context, Mr Mansingh praised the automobile sector for growing exports.Exporters raised the matter of rupee appreciation at the meeting but Mr Mansingh said that it was not an issue of concern as it is also helping the exporters in reducing their cost of imports. He somewhat ruled out the introduction of virtual SEZs (special economic zones).

According to him, the Government had considered it earlier but dropped the idea because virtual SEZs would hamper the prospects of the new SEZs coming up in different regions.

"One important aspect of SEZs is the labour law. To my knowledge all leading States including West Bengal are currently working on separate labour laws. So, it takes care of one major requirement of the exporters." Mr Sanjay Bhudia, Chairman of CII's eastern region, urged the DGFT to rework the Exim Policy book so that it can be easily understood by the industry and also work out a different export strategy for high-growth markets and products.

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