The Hindu Business Line : No further export sops, says Commerce Secy

Bangalore, Sept. 18 Faced with a resource crunch, the Centre is unlikely to provide any new incentives or sops to the exporting community in the next fiscal.

The country is facing tight budgetary constraints and the Government has no option but to tell the exporters that it cannot give them anything next year because “there is a bigger national problem,” said the Union Commerce Secretary, Mr Rahul Khullar.

“There is bad news for exporters who tend to believe that the Government will come around next year and throw money at them,” he said. “Please dispel any notion that this (current fiscal situation) is a temporary phase,” Mr Khullar told members of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Urging industry to use the downturn as an opportunity to invest, Mr Khullar said exporters should look at diversifying into newer markets and enhancing their product baskets. Building products while lowering costs would help tide over the current situation, he added.

The global downturn has impacted the country’s exports, which have shrunk by almost a third to $63.9 billion in the April-August period as against $93.1 billion in the same period last year.

The decline in exports was mainly due to weakened demand in traditional markets such as the US, the European Union and Japan, which accounted for more than two-thirds of the country’s shipments, he said.

The Ministry, Mr Khullar said, wanted to come out with a policy to give a boost to commerce and industry, but it decided to wait and set goals for 2011 and 2014 to allow industry more time for recovery.

“We felt that instead of setting unrealistic goals and achieving nothing, it is important to allow you to recognise the problems and tailor accordingly,” he said.

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