Lok Sabha Question No. 95 (STARRED), answered on 2018-12-17
Subject: Fraudulent Practices by Exporters
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: UDIT RAJ

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 95 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 th  DECEMBER,2018

## FRAUDULENT PRACTICES BY EXPORTERS

## *95. DR. UDIT RAJ:

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

- (a) whether  it  has  come  to  the  notice  of  the  Government  that  many  foreign  importers  are duped or cheated by Indian exporters and the value of such exports runs into millions of dollars whereas India has a vision of increasing exports by $100 Billion in the next few years;
- (b) if so, the steps taken/facilities provided by the Government to resolve the issues/complaints of foreign buyers; and
- (c) the  manner in which the export targets are likely to be achieved in the presence of such fraudulent exporters?

## ANSWER

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## THE MINISTER OF  COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI SURESH PRABHU)

- a) to  c):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 95   FOR ANSWER ON 17 th  DECEMBER,2018 REGARDING 'FRAUDULENT PRACTICES BY EXPORTERS'.

(a)  &  (b): Complaints  of  cheating  and  fraudulent  practices  are  received  from foreign  importers  against    Indian  exporters  as  well  as  from    Indian  importers against  foreign exporters. There is a mechanism put in place under the Foreign Trade  Policy  (2015-20)  to  enable    foreign  buyers  to  file  a  complaint  against erring Indian exporters regarding trade disputes or instances of cheating. Such matters are dealt with by the Regional Offices of the Directorate General of the Foreign  Trade  wherein  a  'Committee  on  Quality  Complaints  and  Trade Disputes'  inquires  into  such  complaints  and  takes  appropriate  action  for resolving  the  disputes.  Wherever  warranted,  penal  action  under  the  Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992 is taken against   defaulters.

(c): In  order  to  promote  India's  exports,  the  Government  has  taken  several measures  through  the  Foreign  Trade  Policy  2015-20  launched  on  1st  April 2015,  its  Mid-term  Review  released  on  December  5,  2017  and  other  policy measures taken from time to time. The key measures include:

- 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. Facilitating Transparency through Ease of Doing Business and IT initiatives:
3. (a) Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) online are integrated with Customs ICEGATE.
4. (b) Mandatory  documents  required  for  exports  and  imports  have been reduced to 3 each.
5. (c) Import  Export  Code  (IEC)  is  integrated  with  PAN  and  MoU  has been signed with GSTN for complete integration.
6. (d) Electronic  bank  realisation  certificate  (e-BRC)  shared  with  14 States Governments for quick tax refunds.
7. (e) MoU signed with GST Network for integration of E-BRC with GSTN.
- iii. The  policy  provides  the  framework  for  promotion  of  exports  through facilitation and duty remission/exemption on inputs for export production.
- iv. The policy introduced 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.
- v. The  policy  includes  measures  to  encourage  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  inputs,  which  are  physically  incorporated  in  the  export product, within a specified timeline.
- 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  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. A  new  Logistic  Division  was  created  in  Department  of  Commerce  to focus on improving logistic efficiency and enhancing growth.
- xii. The Mid-term Review of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 launched on 5th December 2017 provides more incentives for export promotion.
18. ****