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Exporters want the government to enhance allocation for marketing initiatives in the five-year Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) likely to be announced in October.
The ambitious export target of $400 billion set by the government for the current fiscal is achievable but it requires aggressive marketing strategy and venturing into new markets, exporters body FIEO has said.
“I will urge the government to look into enhancing Market Access Initiative funds from the current ₹200 crore. “Alternatively, a planned scheme for marketing aimed to take exports to $1 trillion in next five years may be rolled with a minimum corpus of ₹1,000 crore annually,” FIEO President A Sakthivel said at a press conference on Monday.
Sakthivel also expressed hopes that the value of the Indian rupee, which had appreciated against the dollar for a long time and is now falling again, would reach ₹75 soon and in turn increase the competitiveness of Indian exports.
On revival of exports following the beating last year because of Covid-19 disruptions, Sakthivel said that free trade agreements with countries including the UK, Europe, Australia, and the US would help further push the country’s exports.
“One of the reasons for the success of Vietnam, in attracting investment and relocating units, is its effective FTAs with the rest of the world. It is extremely encouraging that the government is moving simultaneously with many trade partners in this direction. We are confident that the industry will play a pro -active role in such negotiations and will give required elbow room to our negotiators,” he said.
The push for marketing may come from these agreements and such pacts will also help in attracting foreign investments particularly those looking at both the Indian markets and exports.
Many of our traditional sectors of exports have not done well in the past with increasing competition from emerging countries. “We need to understand the factors responsible for such performance, engage with the industry and pursue with the government to address them as these sectors are crucial for job creation,” he added.
On the issue of rising fuel prices and its effect on exports, he said that there should be a provision of regular revision of RoDTEP rates to factor in the rise in fuel costs as no taxes should be exported.
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