Lok Sabha Question No. 1934 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-30
Subject: Representations received from Trade Organisations
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1934 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30 th  JULY,2018

## REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED FROM TRADE ORGANISATIONS

## 1934. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL

Will  the  Minister  of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाͨणÏय  एवं  उɮयोग  मंğी ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has received representations from various trade organisations/export promotion councils to give impetus to exports;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to address their concerns;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  set  up  any  Committee  to  suggest  measures  to  boost exports and bridge the widening trade deficit; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof including the suggestion made by the Committee along with the steps taken/being taken by the Government thereon?

## ANSWER

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## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

(a)  to  (b) The  Government  receives  representations  from  various  trade  organizations/export promotion councils on regular basis with regard to giving impetus to exports.

To  address  the  issues  raised  in  these  representations,  the  Government  has  taken  many  measures through  new  Foreign  Trade  Policy  2015-20  launched  on  1 st April  2015,  its  Mid-term  Review released on December 5, 2017 and other policy measures taken from time to time. The key measures include following:

- (i) FTP 2015-20 provides a framework for increasing exports of goods and services as well as generation of employment and increasing value addition in the country, in line with the  'Make  in  India',  'Digital  India',  'Skills  India',  'Startup  India'  and  'Ease  of  doing business' initiatives.
- (ii) The main policy objective is to enable India to respond to the challenges of the external environment keeping in view the rapidly evolving international trading architecture and make trade a major contributor to the country's economic growth and development.
- (iii) The  policy  provides  the  framework  for  promotion  of  exports  through  schemes  of incentives on exports and duty remission/exemption on inputs for export production.
- (iv) The  policy  introduces  two  new  schemes,  namely  'Merchandise  Exports  from  India Scheme  (MEIS)'  for  improving  export  of  specified  goods  by  merging  five  earlier schemes  for  better  coherence  and  'Services  Exports  from  India  Scheme  (SEIS)'  for increasing exports of notified services. Duty credit scrips issued under MEIS and SEIS and  the  goods  imported  against  these  scrips  are  fully  transferable.  The  Scheme  now covers exports 8020 tariff lines at 8 digits level to all countries.
- (v) The policy includes measures to nudge procurement of capital goods from indigenous manufacturers under the EPCG scheme by reducing specific export obligation from 90 percent to 75 percent of the normal export obligation.
- (vi) The policy provides issue of Advance Authorisation to allow duty free import of input, which is physically incorporated in export product within a specified timelines.
- (vii) Interest  Equalization  Scheme  on  pre  and  post  shipment  rupee  export  credit  has  been introduced from 1.4.2015 to help exporters in accessing credit at reduced rates
- (viii) 'Niryat Bandhu Scheme' has been galvanised and repositioned to achieve the objectives of 'Skill India' and trade promotion/awareness.
- (ix) Trade facilitation  and enhancing the ease of doing business measures have been taken with special focus on moving towards paperless working. The Government has launched a Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) clearances project with effect from  1st  April,  2016.  The  scheme  enables  the  importers/exporters  to  file  a  common electronic 'Integrated Declaration' on the Indian Customs Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange (EC/EDI) Gateway i.e. ICEGATE portal. India also  ratified  the  WTO  Agreement  on  Trade  Facilitation  (TFA)  in  April  2016  for enhancing trade facilitation.
- (x) A  new  scheme  called  'Trade  Infrastructure  for  Export  Scheme  (TIES)'  has  been launched from 1st April 2017 to address the export infrastructure gaps in the country.
- (xi) The validity period of the Duty Credit Scrips has been increased from 18 months to 24 months to enhance their utility in the GST framework.
- (xii) The Mid-term Review of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 launched on 5th December 2017 provides  more  incentives  for  export  promotion.  For  example,  export  incentives  under MEIS  have  been  increased  by  2%  for  labour  intensive  and  MSME  sectors  w.e.f 1.11.2017 in addition to already announced   increase in MEIS incentives from 2% to 4% for  Ready-made  Garments  and  Made  Ups  in  the  labour  intensive  Textiles  Sector. Similarly,  the  SEIS  (Service  Export  from  India  Scheme)  incentive  rate  have  been increased  by  2%  w.e.f  1.11.2017  for  all  notified  services  such  as  Business,  Legal, Accounting, Architectural, Engineering, Educational, Hospital, Hotels and Restaurants.
- (xiii) A new trust based Self Ratification Scheme was introduced to allow duty free inputs for export production under duty exemption scheme for the Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs).
- (xiv) A new Logistics Division has been created in the Commerce Department to develop and coordinate  implementation  of  an  Action  Plan  for  the  integrated  development  of  the logistics  sector,  by  way  of  policy  changes,  improvement  in  existing  procedures, identification of bottlenecks and gaps and introduction of technology in this sector.
- (xv) GST rate for transfer/sale of scrips has been reduced to zero from the earlier rate of 12%.
- (xvi) In  order  to  solve  issue  of  working  capital  blockage,  exemption  from  IGST  and compensation cess was granted to goods imported under Advance Authorisation (AA)/ Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) and Export Oriented Units (EOU) schemes.
- (xvii) Steps  have  been  taken  to  mainstream  States  in  the  process  of  international  trade.A Council for Trade Development and Promotion has been constituted with the objective to ensure a continuous dialogue with State Governments and UTs on international trade.

Twenty  eight  State  Governments  have  nominated  Export  Commissioners.  States  are being  exhorted  to  prepare  export  strategies.  Seventeen  States  have  already  formulated export strategies. Government of India has provided access of the state wise export data compiled by DGCIS to State Governments. Recently, all State Governments / UTs, have been requested to constitute a State Export Promotion Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretaries for focussing on export promotion.

(c)  and (d) A  Task  Force on  Employment and Exports has been constituted by NITI Aayog on September 6, 2017. The task force submitted its report on December 9, 2007 and has given detailed recommendations on measures to be implemented to boost exports and employment in Textiles and Apparel, Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Medical Tourism, Agriculture & Food Processing and Gems and Jewellery sectors besides recommendations on Trade Facilitation.Government has taken steps to prepare sectoral export promotion strategy involving sectors such as Textiles, Chemicals and  Petrochemicals,  Agriculture  among  others  which  comprise  a  substantial  part  of  India's exports.

In addition to taking measures for promoting exports as detailed above, the Government has taken various measures as detailed below to reduce trade deficit through encouraging domestic industry and rationalizing non-essential imports. These measures include:

- (i) 'Make in India' initiative to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub with a user friendly system helping drive investment, foster innovation, develop skills, protect Intellectual Property and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.
- (ii) 'Start-up  India'  aimed  at  promoting  bank  financing  for  start-up  ventures  to  boost entrepreneurship and encourage start-ups.
- (iii) Ambitious program of regulatory reform aimed at making it easier to do business in India. It has led to improvement in India's 'Ease of Doing Business' rank from 142 in 2014 to 100 in 2018.
- (iv) 'Digital  India'  to  ensure  that  government  services  are  made  available  to  citizens electronically by improving online infrastructure and by increasing internet connectivity.

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