The Hindu Business Line : Cabinet will consider further relief for exporters: Kamal Nath

New Delhi, Nov.1 The Union Cabinet would consider this month further measures in the form of remissions and refunds of taxes and levies to help exporters tide over the rupee pressure, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said on Thursday.

The Minister maintained his optimism about touching the target for 2007-08 ($160 billion), and ruled out a downward revision of the export target. “$72 billion (April-September export) is still a credible achievement and I hope the target we had set, we will achieve in the next six months. The exporters have economised and exporters are headed towards competitiveness…Of course, with rupee there is a problem. We are not revising our targets,” he said on the sidelines of inauguration of HCL Technology Hub here.

Review meeting

He said that in the next two weeks, the Cabinet would consider further measures for exporters.

“In November, I will hold a review meeting to see what more can be done. Government and the cabinet will be considering further measures for exporters,” he said.

Asked if these measures would come in form of sops for exporters, the Minister said, “It is not sops, it will be remission and refund of taxes and levies and how we can see that we have a level-playing-field.”

Preserve export space

On whether there would be sector specific measures, the Minister said, “They are sector specific measures, especially large employment generating sectors we are looking at to see we do not lose our space in the export markets which have been developed over the years…It is not losing value of exports but it is losing the space we have in those countries.”

He also said that the review of FDI norms was likely to come up at the Cabinet in a week’s time.