• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Industry agrees to spruce up data collection mode

K.R. Srivats

NEW DELHI, Dec. 14

INDUSTRY would strive for further strengthening its research and data collection capabilities at the `micro level' to generate ``high quality and wide-ranging'' data that are needed for justifying Government's intervention against unfair imports inflicti ng material injury to domestic industry.

``The various sections of industry agreed that objective and high quality data at the micro level should be generated without any undue time lag if a solid case is to be built for Government's swift intervention in a WTO Compatible manner'', industry sou rces told Business Line soon after the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Quantitative Restrictions (QR) here.

The sources said that senior Commerce Ministry officials had also underscored the need for development of strong data base to quickly act and safeguard the interests of the domestic industry.

Further, sources added that officials assured industry representatives that official data collection machinery would also be fully geared to reduce the time lag in collection and dissemination of micro and macro data on the various facets of the economy so as to enable the industry to evolve an informed view on the issues that have a bearing on its development.

Asked about the outcome of the meeting, the Director General of Foreign Trade, Mr N.L. Lakhanpal, said that the meeting was of a routine nature to elicit the views and practical problems that industry confronts even as the import curbs were being removed and with the deadline for its complete elimination drawing nearer.

He maintained that with the removal of 714 tariff lines in this year's Exim Policy, there was no major import surge and pointed out that non-oil import registered a negative growth during the first seven months of the current fiscal.

Even as the officials were conceding that non-oil import growth has not picked up to any dangerous level following the removal of QRs on 714 tariff lines in this year's Exim Policy, the President of Assocham, Mr Shekhar Bajaj, in a statement said that sm all scale sector would be severely ``impacted by the anticipated splurge in imports'' after March 31, 2001 when the lingering QRs would be removed.