Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday said that there was a general misconception that India was providing subsidies to its exporters.

According to Prabhu, the country is actually trying to 'partially offset' the inadequate infrastructure support with a view to minimising the adversities that exporters suffer from while accessing the global markets.

"There is a misconception that we subsidise our exports while actually we don't (subsidise the exports). What we give to the exporters in India is not any subsidy or incentive to promote exports but in a way partially offset the inadequate infrastructure support that they have and the high interest cost," Prabhu said at a SHEFEXIL (Shellac and Forest Products Export Promotion Council) award function here on Saturday.

India was not violating or even trying to infringe on any of the global trading system, he added.

Boosting aviation sector

Earlier in the day speaking at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for Leadership, Prabhu said an integrated plan for creation of infrastructure for boosting the country's aviation sector by 2035 has been prepared.

The aviation sector is set to record the highest continuous growth in the next few years to come. The country would need close to 1,000 planes in the coming fiscal and the plan would be to look at manufacturing a part of it domestically.

"We will need 1,000 planes in the next fiscal, we don't just want to keep importing them so we are looking for manufacturing in India," he said.

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